President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have been deemed illegal by the U.S. supreme court, but that doesn’t mean he’s changing his view on the policy tool — far from it.
“The TRADE DEFICIT was down 55%, the biggest drop in history,” Trump declared in a recent post on Truth Social (1). “THANK YOU MR. TARIFF!”
According to the latest U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the goods and services deficit for January and February 2026 fell by $136.1 billion, or 54.8%, compared to the same period in 2025 (2).
A trade deficit occurs when a country imports more than it exports — and the U.S. has carried a massive trade deficit for decades.
The sharp narrowing in the first two months of the year was driven by a $62.6 billion (11.3%) year-over-year increase in exports, alongside a $73.5 billion (9.2%) decline in imports.