One year after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff offensive, the strategy behind the measures is failing to deliver, according to U.S. trade policy expert Laura von Daniels.

“For consumers and most businesses in the United States, the tariffs are driving up costs,” the political scientist from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs said. “Together with energy prices rising sharply because of the Iran war, the tariffs are also pushing inflation up again.”

Little remained of Mr Trump’s promise to reduce the cost of living, she said.

Another unfulfilled pledge was that tariffs would generate high additional revenue to improve the U.S. budget situation.

“Trump enlarged the budget deficit through his tax reform,” Ms von Daniels said, adding that the Iran war and possible further military action also threaten to tear additional holes in the nation’s budget.

She argued that the main damage to the U.S. economy was being caused by the uncertainty that Trump’s policies were creating among market participants.

“Trump has created all of these problems himself, for no reason,” she said.

On April 2, 2025, the so-called ‘Liberation Day’, Mr Trump announced steep special tariffs on goods from numerous countries.

The aggressive tariff policy has been a core element of his second term in office.

The U.S. Supreme Court has since ruled that many of the tariffs were unlawful in their current form, but von Daniels said the decision had only dealt a setback to Trump’s tariff policy and would not stop him.

As announced, Mr Trump imposed other tariffs immediately after the ruling.

The U.S. administration was already considering new trade measures, she added.

(dpa/NAN)