Today on the program, macroeconomy, mostly, from American public media.

This is Marketplace.

In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizzdahl.

It is Thursday.

Today, this one is the 19th of February.

Good as always to have you along, everybody.

President Trump's understanding of how this economy works is interesting.

His tariffs, as we all know, are in fact paid by American consumers and businesses,

not whoever he and his administration say are paying them relevant research on this topic available upon request.

He has also fixated, something about feeling ripped off, on the U.S. trade deficit, the difference between what we sell overseas and what we buy.

Those two misapprehensions came together in the

headlines today in the release this morning by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of, and this is the

official title, U.S. International Trade and Goods and Services, December and annual 2025.

Turns out we imported more goods and services in the last month of last year than we export it,

$70 billion worth more, give or take. And net net for all of last year, our trade deficit in goods,

that is, stuff, hit a record. Now, you might recall the president's repeated promises that his

tariffs would bring that number down.

As Marketplace's Supreme Benesshore reports, they have not.

Wilde does not begin to describe the ride Tomboy X apparel has been on this past year.

They were so volatile, the tariffs. I mean, at one point, we were paying 187 percent.

Fran Dunaway is president of Tomboy X. She tried to order a bunch of stuff early to get ahead of the

tariffs, but eventually had to import again. She moved production from country to country, got the

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