The US trade deficit increased in February as a rise in imports offset strong exports, new data showed Thursday, exactly one year after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariff regime.
“Liberation Day” kicked off 12 months of volatile policy and trade patterns that have yet to subside.
The US Supreme Court in February struck down most of the duties, compounding corporate uncertainty. The tariffs forced global investors to reassess their exposure to US assets, and failed to unleash an American manufacturing renaissance. But Liberation Day did not cause the economic apocalypse some expected, and instead created a “retroactive tolerance for robust protectionism,” a conservative commentator argued.
The Trump administration marked the anniversary by imposing new tariffs on drugs and metals.
