Posted on 12/11/2025 11:18:38 AM PST by SoConPubbie
The deficit reduction reflected gains on both sides of the ledger. U.S. exports jumped 3.0 percent to $289.3 billion, the highest level in months, while imports rose just 0.6 percent to $342.1 billion. The combination produced the kind of outcome the Trump administration has sought: American goods finding stronger markets abroad even as the flow of foreign goods into the United States moderates.
In inflation-adjusted terms, the trade picture improved as well. The real goods deficit fell 5.6 percent in September, as real exports of goods rose 4.2 percent and real imports edged up 0.7 percent. That confirms that the narrowing gap reflects genuine changes in trade volumes rather than simply higher prices.
The September figures mark a significant turnaround from August, when the trade deficit stood at $59.3 billion. More importantly, they suggest that Trump’s comprehensive tariff strategy—which took full effect in early August—is reshaping trade patterns in ways that supporters say boost American competitiveness rather than simply shutting out foreign competition.
Administration officials argue that this is precisely what reciprocal trade policy is designed to accomplish: not just reducing imports, but making American products more competitive globally while ensuring foreign countries cannot exploit the U.S. market without reciprocity.
The export surge was broad-based, led by industrial supplies including nonmonetary gold, which rose $6.1 billion, and consumer goods including pharmaceuticals, up $3.1 billion. These gains came despite predictions from critics that tariffs would inevitably provoke retaliation that would devastate American exporters.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Critics have long warned that tariffs would backfire, either through foreign retaliation that would devastate American exporters or through supply chain disruptions that would make domestic production impossible. The September figures show exports at their highest level in months even as tariffs are at their most comprehensive, challenging the retaliation narrative.
The administration has consistently argued that trade deficits matter not as abstract statistics but as indicators of American manufacturing decline and job losses in industrial communities. By that measure, a shrinking deficit combined with rising exports is exactly the kind of progress the White House points to as evidence that its strategy is working.
It takes time and grueling details. Imagine dealing with all this different personalities. He’s amazing.
(Trying out for a position on the liberal media...)
Has SCROTUS ruled on this yet?
trade deficit typically shrinks during economic contractions. I expect. that is where we are headed.
It is kind of like “saving a trillion dollars over ten years. There is a lot less than advertised. So long as there is a deficit, extra money is being created and inflation continues.
Tariffs in a perfect free market world would be a bad thing, Tariffs in a world of government overregulation of business, most nations subsidizing their own industry and tarrifing foreign(us) business and government creating monopolies and cartels is a necessary corrective. Trump appears to actually be working to equalize and thus mitigate the evils of tariffs and foreign government subsidy.
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