Are the tariffs working? The headline from the BBC,
Tariffs prompt record plunge in US imports.
The details,
Goods brought into the US plunged by 20% in April, recording their largest ever monthly drop in the face of a wave of tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump.
You literally have to go down to the final two sentences to learn the bottom line of the report,
Exports so far this year are up about 5% compared with 2024.
The overall goods and services deficit in April was $61.6bn, down from $138.3bn in March.
Wut? Exports are up? How can that be? By the way, the monthly drop in the trade deficit was the biggest ever recorded.
You’ve heard a lot this year about the Port of Long Beach, California. The Port’s stats for April show that inbound traffic was higher than February or March and appears to be the highest level ever recorded for an April.
The Port maintains statistics going back for decades. For at least the past 25 years, the number of empty outbound containers has exceeded the number of outbound containers loaded with cargo.
To repeat, the No. 1 export out of one of America’s biggest container ports continues to be empty air.
