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Last April, President Donald Trump unveiled a broad array of global tariffs in an event he dubbed “Liberation Day.” It has since been a tumultuous year for global trade, filled with fluctuating tariff levels, hasty new trade agreements and a major Supreme Court setback.
Through it all, Trump remains as committed as ever to tariffs as the centerpiece of his global trade policy. A White House statement released on April 2, the anniversary of Liberation Day, claimed that “the U.S. economy stands more resilient, more competitive, and more secure than it did just 12 months ago” and touts the “unmistakable” results of his tariff policies.
Other reviews are not as kind. “Safe to say, things didn’t exactly work out as promised,” in the words of an April 2 analysis from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. “Taxes, prices, uncertainty, and bureaucracy climbed, while US manufacturing, FDI [foreign direct investment,] and the trade balance stood still.”
Recent developments
Updated on May 3.
Supreme Court rules against Trump's tariffs
Feb. 20: The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as justification for imposing large-scale tariffs.
The ruling means the U.S. will owe businesses many billions of dollars in refunds. But the ruling doesn’t mean the end of tariffs altogether — Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, for example, will stand, and he quickly imposed new temporary tariffs after the ruling.
Trump imposes new tariffs
Feb. 20: On the day of the Supreme Court ruling, Trump immediately announced a new 10% global tariff under Section 122, which allows the president to impose temporary, across-the-board tariffs or quotas (for up to 150 days) to address serious balance-of-payments deficits or protect the dollar.
Feb. 22: Trump raised the level of his new temporary tariffs to 15%. These tariffs will be in place until July 24, 2026, unless they are extended by Congress. The Section 122 tariffs are not imposed on top of product-specific tariffs such as those on steel, aluminum, lumber and cars.
U.S. begins processing tariff refunds
April 20: The administration announced a plan and process for refunding more than $166 billion in illegally collected tariffs to importers and other businesses. It began processing claims immediately.For details on how to apply, see our story on how to get a tariff refund for your business.
Tariffs: How we got here
First, a definition: A tariff is a tax levied on imported goods when they enter the country. It could be calculated as a fixed amount or a percentage of the price of the goods it’s applied to. The government might impose a tariff to raise revenue or protect domestic interests.
Tariffs have long been a foreign policy tool, and in fact were the largest source of federal income until the first income tax was implemented in 1862. Trump first imposed a variety of tariffs in his first term, but stepped up his reliance on them after returning to office in early 2025.
Most of Trump’s initial “reciprocal” tariffs (applied broadly to virtually every country on Earth) were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The initial level was set at 10%, later boosted to 15%. Those tariffs were overturned in 2026 by the Supreme Court.
Since then, Trump has imposed or threatened a wide range of commodity- and country-specific tariffs. Also, several trade deals were announced and exemptions carved out, leaving the tariff landscape complex and ever-shifting, and also creating an unprecedented degree of trade policy uncertainty that “undermined long-term business planning and investment in the United States,” according to the Cato analysis.
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What tariffs are in place now?
There is a vast and complex array of tariffs (and exemptions) currently applied to goods and services entering the United States. Here are some numbers as of April 2026.
Current global tariff level: 15% under the temporary Section 122 tariffs Trump enacted after his Supreme Court defeat. These apply broadly but there are numerous exceptions as well as higher duties on some countries and commodities. They will expire on July 24, 2026, unless extended by Congress.
Current effective tariff rate: 11% when averaged across all imports, according to the Budget Lab, a nonpartisan policy research center based at Yale; 12.1% according to the Tax Foundation, a tax policy nonprofit.
Average cost of tariffs to U.S. households: $1,130-$1,340 in 2026, if the current temporary tariffs are made permanent by Congress, and $650-$780 if they are not, again according to the Budget Lab.
Tariffs on specific goods and commodities: These apply broadly and were implemented under Section 232, which was not affected by the Supreme Court decision. This is a partial list, and there may be exemptions for some countries under new or existing trade deals.
- 50% tariff on articles made entirely or almost entirely of aluminum, steel, or copper
- 25% tariff on articles made entirely or almost entirely of aluminum, steel, or copper.
- 25% on imported cars and car parts.
- 100% on imported pharmaceuticals (although many drugs are exempted).
Who pays for tariffs?
U.S. importers pay the cost of tariffs, and they can choose to pass some or all of the cost to consumers in the form of price hikes. In some cases, exporters have lowered prices to stay competitive in the face of tariffs, but according to a February 2026 analysis by the New York Fed, 94% of the “tariff burden” is paid by U.S. businesses and consumers.
The Tax Policy Center, which focuses on tax policy analysis, estimates an average tariff burden of $1,050 per U.S. household in 2026.
Have tariffs helped the economy?
The Trump Administration has cited many reasons for implementing the highest effective tariff rate in almost a century, among them a desire to lower the trade deficit and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. He has also cited revenue potential and has even floated eliminating the income tax and replacing it with tariffs.
How much tariff money have we collected? Customs duties totalling $264 billion were collected in 2025, according to the Tax Foundation, but much of that will have to be refunded because of the Supreme Court ruling. In 2024, $79 billion was collected.
The U.S. spent $7.01 trillion in 2025, according to the U.S. Treasury..
How have tariffs affected the trade gap? In 2025, the trade deficit rose dramatically in the early months of the year, as importers increased orders to build up inventory ahead of Trump’s new tariffs; they generally declined after reciprocal tariffs were enacted in April.For the full year 2025, the trade deficit was $901.5 billion, about $2.1 billion lower than 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Imports actually increased year over year.
Have tariffs helped U.S. manufacturing jobs? One of Trump’s stated aims in increasing tariffs has been reversing the decline of U.S. manufacturing jobs, which peaked in 1979 and have been in a general decline ever since as more manufacturing has moved overseas.
Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. declined again in 2025, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.
Have tariffs hurt the economy?
While predicted positive effects of U.S. tariffs have been muted at best, economists have noted some negative effects on the economy.
Tariffs have contributed to inflation. Multiple studies have shown that tariffs are paid overwhelmingly by U.S. importers, and those importers absorb some of those costs and pass the rest onto consumers. One academic study published in January said that through October 2025, tariffs contributed about 0.76 percentage points to the already elevated consumer price index.
Tariffs contributed to business uncertainty. The ever-evolving nature of tariffs (and their many exemptions) have “undermined long-term business planning and investment in the United States,” according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Scholars who track business uncertainty say levels hit new highs in 2025 and were many multiples higher than the typical background level.
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