A year ago, President Trump enacted sweeping tariffs that hit more than 100 trading partners, allies and economic adversaries alike, in a monumental shift away from the global economic order.
Responding to what the White House deemed an economic emergency, the tariffs were sold as a way to spark a manufacturing renaissance and rejigger a rigged trade regime. America first, in a nutshell.
It’s easy to pinpoint that period on a zoomed out, five-year stock chart because on a screen it looks like a disaster. Some policy analysts might describe it that way too. Judging the trade upheaval by the numbers and the administration’s stated goals — of jobs growth, trade surpluses, and merely transitory inflation — shows the protectionist swerve fell short of its aims.
The record is messy and mixed. But so much has changed in a year, from the rollbacks and trade deals to a thundering Supreme Court decision and the reverberations of the war in Iran.
Here’s a look back at one of the most important days for investors and what we can take away from “Liberation Day.”
The average effective tariff rate stands at 11.0%, according to the Yale Budget Lab, marking the highest level since 1943, not including last year’s peak.
President Trump reissued a 10% global tariff in February after the Supreme Court struck down the use of his emergency powers to enact sweeping “reciprocal tariffs.”
On Thursday, new data from the Commerce Department showed that the US trade deficit jumped almost 5% in February to $57.3 billion, an increase from January’s $54.5 billion. And even as trade figures were volatile last year as importers scrambled to react to shifting policies, the US trade deficit remains similar to what it was on April 2, 2025.
Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump’s tariffs
Following erratic trade policy last year may have felt disorienting. The Dow plunged almost 1,700 points and the S&P 500 shed almost 5% in a single day, echoing the chaos of the early phase of the COVID pandemic.
But once Trump backed down from executing the most devastating levies, markets began their march upward. In a sudden reversal, Trump walked back dozens of country-specific tariffs, sending Wall Street into a dizzying rally.
Where Congress and public opinion failed to keep the president from pursuing a trade overhaul, markets acted as a powerful restraint. Trillions of dollars in stock losses and a surge in Treasury yields appeared to persuade Trump to change course.
