From Bill Glahn’s article at powerlineblog.com:
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.
Get it? If you read the headline alone, or even the headline and most of the article, you “know” that Trump’s tariffs are a disaster. Only if you read to the very end do you find out that the news, in actuality, is very, very good; not bad at all.
And the article doesn’t even mention that inflation, which most media told us would jump sharply due to the tariffs, has not gone up at all so far. Not important enough to mention, I guess.
Why can’t you trust media? That’s the latest reason. More to come; I guarantee it.
