Donald Trump’s recent state visit to the UK ended without the removal of steel tariffs, which the host nation had been hoping for. For months, the US president’s array of “liberation day” tariffs have sparked controversy and caused chaos for America’s trading partners.
Ultimately, the US expects to collect more than US$50 billion (£37 billion) a month in revenues from these tariffs. This figure, from US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, might sound like a fiscal triumph – a rare instance of a government growing revenue without raising taxes. But behind the headline lies a far more complex, and troubling, economic reality.
