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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Issues: trade deficit

Trump Expands on Dubious Daily Tariff Revenue Claim

Trump Expands on Dubious Daily Tariff Revenue Claim
April 17, 2025

President Donald Trump has added to his unsupported claim that the U.S. is making “$2 billion a day” from tariffs by saying that the country was losing $2 billion or $3 billion “a day” under President Joe Biden. Economists told us that Trump appears to be wrongly comparing a very high – and unlikely – estimate of potential daily revenue from his tariffs with a figure reflecting the average daily U.S. trade deficit during Biden’s last year in office.

Trump’s Misleading Tariff Chart

Trump’s Misleading Tariff Chart
April 3, 2025

In his Rose Garden announcement of sweeping new “reciprocal tariffs,” President Donald Trump held aloft a misleading chart that claimed to give a breakdown of the tariffs other countries charge the U.S. and the corresponding tariff that the U.S. will now impose against those countries.

Trump on U.S. Imports of Oil and Lumber

Trump on U.S. Imports of Oil and Lumber
February 11, 2025

Days before he ordered, and then paused, new tariffs on U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico, President Donald Trump argued that the U.S. does not need imported products such as crude oil and lumber from those countries. Experts told us it’s not that simple.

What President Trump Inherits, Part 2

What President Trump Inherits, Part 2
January 20, 2025

On Inauguration Day, we provide a look at various metrics on the state of the country at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Biden’s Numbers, July 2024 Update

Biden’s Numbers, July 2024 Update
July 25, 2024

As Biden enters the final months of his presidency, we look at various statistical measures of what’s happened during his term.

Trump’s Latest False Claim About the U.S.-China Trade Deficit

Trump’s Latest False Claim About the U.S.-China Trade Deficit
June 6, 2024

The total U.S. trade deficit with China in goods and services in 2023 was about $252 billion, the lowest it has been in 14 years. Former President Donald Trump was way off when he falsely claimed that the U.S.-China trade gap is about four times as high.