Trump's Tariffs are FAILING! (Duhh!)

Remember the promises? Trump's tariffs were supposed to slash the trade deficit, supercharge American manufacturing, and even send us all $2,000 checks? So, how's that going?

Spoiler alert: It's not going well at all.

Trump's tariffs are adversely affecting the trade deficit, manufacturing, household income, and the broader US economy.

📉 Trade deficit? Up.
🏭 Manufacturing share of GDP? Down.
💸 Household costs? Rising again.
📦 Imports? Rushed in early due to fear of even higher tariffs.

This video explains why tariffs can't function as both a bargaining tool and a long-term revenue source, why "trade deficit" is a misleading political term, and how misunderstanding basic economics continues to fuel bad policy. And then there's the knock-on effects: higher prices, supply chain disruptions, and the looming possibility of "Trumpflation" if stimulus checks return.

We'll revisit concepts like Net Foreign Investment, the Law of Comparative Advantage, and the misuse of GDP as a metric—all in plain language, drawing from nearly two decades of my explaining economics on YouTube.

If you've ever wondered whether tariffs help or harm the American economy, or whether Trump's trade policies make sense in practice, this video lays out the facts.

Trump tariffs have failed to reduce trade deficits https://reason.com/2025/12/08/trumps-tariffs-fail-their-own-test/

I, Pencil https://fee.org/ebooks/i-pencil/

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0:00 - Intro
0:36 - What Trump Promised Tariffs Would Do
1:51 - What the Trade Deficit Really Is
4:03 - Trump's Tariffs Made the Trade Deficit Worse
5:06 - Manufacturing's Decline Under Tariffs
6:27 - Why GDP Share Isn't a Useful Metric
8:20 - Household Income Impact: Harvard Study Findings
9:03 - Tariffs Can Only Ever Be Harmful
9:28 - Trumpflation, Bidenflation, and Why Tariffs Always Harm Prosperity