Tariffs at Work: Historic Gains Amid Media Skepticism
Fourth-quarter trade data shows the largest post-recession improvement in US trade flows.
by F. Andrew Wolf Jr.
February 23, 2026, 10:07 PM
Pxhere.com
A headline from Bloomberg on Thursday was indicative of legacy media’s response to new trade data released by the Commerce Department. It declared, “U.S Notches One of Its Biggest Annual Trade Gaps Since 1960.”
So, were the mainstream economists and political pundits right? Should we begin to doubt that President Trump’s tariffs are having any effect at all? Can tariffs actually rebalance trade? That, of course, is precisely the reaction the headlines are intended to evoke. (RELATED: The Productivity Boom Economists Didn’t See Coming)
The fallacy in the media’s argument is that such superficial treatment of the data obscures what may be the most dramatic trade rebalancing of imports and exports in modern American history.
The Trend Is What Matters
Yes, the annual 2025 deficit was essentially flat at $901.5 billion (down just $2.1 billion from 2024), but this masks what could be described as a tectonic shift in Q3 and Q4 — and particularly in the last three months.
The fourth quarter of 2025 posted the largest rolling three-month trade deficit decline in recorded history, with the three-month average falling $35.3 billion year-over-year, a 45 percent decrease. This reduction in deficit surpasses even the peak months of the Great Recession in 2009.
https://spectator.org/tariffs-at-work-historic-gains-amid-media-skepticism/
