US trade with Southeast Asia and Taiwan surging despite Trump tariffs

"When United States President Donald Trump returned to office 12 months ago, he promised to slash the country's trade deficit, which had swelled to about $918.4bn, or 3.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), for goods and services in 2024. Invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), he launched reciprocal tariffs on US trade partners to rectify trade practices, which the White House blamed for hollowing out US manufacturing, starting on April 2."

"If you squeeze a balloon in one direction and people still want the product, then they will get the product, whatever it is, from a different location, said Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore. Trade moves to where trade opportunities can be found, she told Al Jazeera. We have shuffled the way that we do trade, but we haven't ended trade."

"Months of tit-for-tariffs imposed by Washington and Beijing ended with an average US duty of 47.5 percent on Chinese goods as of November 2025, according to the US-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. The final duties could change following a future meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for April, but it has already led to a sharp drop in trade."

When Donald Trump returned to office, he promised to slash the US trade deficit, which had swelled to $918.4bn, or 3.1% of GDP, in 2024. He invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and launched reciprocal tariffs on trade partners. Preliminary trade data show the US trade deficit fell in 2025, but tariffs did not reduce US reliance on Southeast and East Asia. Tariffs reshuffled supply chains as US buyers sourced products from other locations. Washington and Beijing imposed tit-for-tat duties leaving an average US duty of 47.5% on Chinese goods by November 2025. Chinese exports to the US fell 20% in 2025 according to Chinese customs data.

Read at www.aljazeera.com