Iowa Business Report Monday Edition -- Oct. 12, 2026

The US trade deficit has widened.

National financial journalist Jordan Goodman explains.

That was the whole purpose of President Trump's move was by having tariffs, companies would move their operations from overseas to here to avoid the tariffs.

Trade deficit would shrink.

That has not happened at all.

Uh, the latest numbers just came out.

The trade deficit for August alone, just one month, was $105 billion, which is a 17-month high.

So it has not worked at all.

[laughs] Our exports of agricultural products, as you're well aware in Iowa, have declined.

China's just not buying as many soybeans and corn and wheat as it had been in the past, and there's a lot of products that we import that cannot be substituted with American companies' products.

So they're just not made here.

Our labor costs are too high.

We, we cannot substitute.

So our imports have been going up a lot.

And recently, because of the fear of higher tariffs, which in fact President Trump did put in, for example, 50% against Canada, a lot of companies rushed to build their inventories so they could avoid those higher tariffs.

So in the short term, it actually increased the trade deficit dramatically.

The US trade deficit has widened.

National financial journalist Jordan Goodman explains.

That was the whole purpose of President Trump's move was by having tariffs, companies would move their operations from overseas to here to avoid the tariffs.

Trade deficit would shrink.

That has not happened at all.

Uh, the latest numbers just came out.

The trade deficit for August alone, just one month, was $105 billion, which is a 17-month high.

So it has not worked at all.

[laughs] Our exports of agricultural products, as you're well aware in Iowa, have declined.

China's just not buying as many soybeans and corn and wheat as it had been in the past, and there's a lot of products that we import that cannot be substituted with American companies' products.

So they're just not made here.

Our labor costs are too high.

We, we cannot substitute.

So our imports have been going up a lot.

And recently, because of the fear of higher tariffs, which in fact President Trump did put in, for example, 50% against Canada, a lot of companies rushed to build their inventories so they could avoid those higher tariffs.

So in the short term, it actually increased the trade deficit dramatically.