The US trade deficit just fell to $52.8 billion, down 35%, a win for tariffs on paper but a troubling sign that demand is weakening and recession risks are rising.


The United States has collected more than $200 billion in tariffs this year as a result of new duties imposed by President Donald Trump since the beginning of 2025, the Customs and Border Protection agency said Monday.

The tally comes as the Supreme Court considers arguments that the new tariffs are illegal.

The $200 billion tally is only for the new tariffs, not for tariffs imposed during Trump’s first term in the White House. Those earlier tariffs do not face legal challenges, as the new tariffs do.

Trump earlier this year unilaterally imposed, without congressional authorization, what he calls reciprocal tariffs on imports from most of the world’s nations.

He also imposed “fentanyl tariffs” on products from Canada, China and Mexico, in retaliation for what he said was those countries’ failure to stem the flow of that deadly narcotic into the United States.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/15/trump-tariffs-trade-customs-imports.html

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