Seven Telling Statistics on U.S. Tariffs in 2025

Article Highlights:

• According to the Yale Budget Lab, as of July 27 the current average effective tariff rate across all U.S. imports was 18.2%. This is the highest average tariff rate since the first half of the 1930s, during a time when the U.S. embraced a protectionist trade policy to protect domestic farmers and businesses from foreign competition in the wake of the Great Depression.
• Automakers, which source from vast global supply chains with multiple tiers and hundreds of suppliers, are losing billions of dollars to customs duties and other related expenses. 
• Supply chain risk management platform Z2Data gives organizations the insights, expertise, and real-time supply chain monitoring they need to deploy a range of strategies for reducing the burden associated with tariffs.

Whether looked at through the lens of geopolitics, economics, or global supply chains, the first half of 2025 has been dominated by a single term: tariffs. U.S. President Trump has made no secret of his affection for this longstanding trade instrument, and he’s leveraged tariffs aggressively during the first year of his second term in office. Initially, Trump and his trade team, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, hoped to land favorable deals with other nations at a breakneck pace. In April, the administration touted plans to strike “90 deals in 90 days.” The reality that’s unfurled in the months since, however, has been slower and more complicated. Nevertheless, a major deal with the European Union in late July speaks to the leverage the U.S. continues to have in these complex, consequential negotiations. 

Below, seven statistics are spotlighted that illuminate different aspects of the unprecedented trade landscape President Trump and his administration have ushered in over the past six months. The collection of figures are intended to illustrate the raft of divergent effects of U.S. tariffs in 2025, including their impact on global trade, U.S. corporate earnings, and American households. 

1. 18.2 Percent: Average Effective U.S. Tariff Rate

According to the Yale Budget Lab, as of July 27 the current average effective tariff rate across all U.S. imports was 18.2%. This is the highest average tariff rate since the first half of the 1930s, during a time when the U.S. embraced a protectionist trade policy to protect domestic farmers and businesses from foreign competition in the wake of the Great Depression. The Smooth-Hawley Tariff Act, passed in 1930, implemented or raised tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods. 

Sources: U.S. Senate; Yale Budget Lab

2. $100,000,000,000: U.S. Customs Collections Through June

The U.S. federal government’s customs duty collections recently surpassed $100 billion for the first time within a single fiscal year. The feat was accomplished in June, with the Treasury Department reporting $27 billion in customs duties during that month alone. Through the first nine months of fiscal year 2025, which began in October, the total revenue from custom duties stands at a record $113 billion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has expressed hope that the government will reach $300 billion in tariff-related revenue in 2025. 

 Sources: Reuters

3. $2,400: Average Cost of Tariffs to American Households

The Yale Budget Lab estimates that the Trump administration’s tariff regime will cost U.S. households $2,400, on average, by the end of 2025. This figure is based on short-term consumer price increases estimated at 1.8%. While that inflation figure may seem relatively modest on the surface, when it’s distributed across all consumer goods, it adds up to a meaningful hit to the finances of American homes. 

The Yale Budget Lab estimates that the Trump administration’s tariff regime will cost U.S. households $2,400, on average, by the end of 2025.

It’s important to remember that U.S. businesses and consumers are ultimately bearing the brunt of higher tariffs: American importers have paid—and, in some cases, passed on—the $100 billion in levies collected by the federal government through June. 

Sources: Yale Budget Lab

4. 51%: U.S. Tariff Rate on Chinese Imports

After weeks of a volatile, vertiginous trade war in which President Trump at one point implemented a collective tariff rate of 145% on most Chinese goods, trade negotiations between the U.S. and China have eased tensions and warded off retaliatory measures. 

As of late July, the average tariff rate on Chinese imports stood at roughly 51%. This includes the 10% global baseline tariff, as well as a 20% “fentanyl tariff” implemented by the Trump administration as a punitive measure against a Chinese government that has, according to the White House, “failed to take the actions necessary to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known criminal cartels and shut down money laundering by transnational criminal organizations.” Various sectoral tariffs, including on aluminum, steel, and semiconductors, are responsible for the remaining 21%.

Sources: CNBC; China Briefing; White House

5. $5,000,000,000: GM’s Projected Financial Losses

The Trump administration’s tariffs have hit the auto industry particularly hard. Automakers, which source from vast global supply chains with multiple tiers and hundreds of suppliers, are losing billions of dollars to customs duties and other related expenses. In late July, General Motors reported that it lost $1.1 billion in earnings during the second quarter of 2025. Worse, the iconic U.S. automaker said that tariffs and related trade headwinds could ultimately cost the company as much as $5 billion by the end of the year.

Other automakers have been similarly affected. Stellantis, which owns U.S. car brands Chrysler, Jeep, and Ram, reported in July losses of $2.7 billion through the first half of the year. The steep financial hit stemmed from a myriad of factors, some of which were directly related to Trump administration trade measures. Tariffs cost the automaker over $340 million, and factory closures triggered by U.S. trade policies resulted in a 25% decrease in the total inventory delivered to U.S. buyers. 

Sources: Reuters; New York Times

6. 12,600,000: U.S. Cargo Imports in TEUs

After the Trump administration’s so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2, when historically high tariffs were announced on dozens of countries all over the world, many thought that the U.S.’s new, highly restrictive tariff regime would trigger a major slowdown in imports. American companies, the thinking went, would be strongly incentivized to reduce their reliance on foreign suppliers for fear of incurring major customs costs. 

But while there have been some notably down months this year—May, in particular, saw a significant dropoff—U.S. ports have largely continued to process a steady stream of foreign cargo. According to the National Retail Federation, during the first six months of 2025 the total imported cargo was estimated to be around 12.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (or TEUs, a unit of measurement indicating cargo capacity that refers to the size of shipping containers). That figure represents an increase of 4.5% over the first six months of 2024—a surprising show of trade resilience in the face of months of tariff fears, threats, and implementations.

There’s another takeaway from the consistency of U.S. imports, too. It appears that many importers are hesitant to cut ties with their foreign manufacturers and seek out domestic sourcing alternatives to replace them. Much of the data—including import cargo figures—paint a picture of American businesses determined to maintain their existing supply chains, even if it means absorbing burdensome tariff costs. Up to this point, there’s little evidence that U.S. industry has any appetite for shifting to domestic manufacturing in the way that the Trump administration had hoped when it initiated this trade regime. 

Much of the data—including import cargo figures—paint a picture of American businesses determined to maintain their existing supply chains, even if it means absorbing burdensome tariff costs.

Sources: National Retail Federation 

7. $1.8 Trillion: China’s 2025 Export Revenue

Tariffs on China are having a measurable impact on how much American businesses source from the U.S.’s geopolitical rival. Imports from China in 2025 are down nearly 30% compared with 2018 figures, and tariff simulators project that Chinese imports to the U.S. could drop off by close to $500 billion by 2027, assuming current trends continue. China, however, is finding a way to compensate for those palpable losses in U.S. business. 

Through the first six months of the year, China’s exports actually grew by over seven percent compared with 2024 figures, reaching nearly $1.8 trillion. That’s because, while China is losing business in America, it’s ramping up its exports to other parts of the world. In June alone—the latest month for which data is available—China’s exports to Southeast Asia increased nearly 17% year-over-year. Shipments to the European Union also saw a bump, growing by 7.6% compared with 2024. 

While global supply chains are reconfiguring themselves in significant ways, China is finding a way to remain a manufacturing powerhouse, as integral as ever to the products we produce, ship, and consume. 

Sources: Yahoo; CNBC

Mitigate Tariff Impacts With Z2Data

The global trade landscape is not what it was 18, 12, or even 6 months ago. Today, sectoral and country-specific tariffs are making international supply chains more fluid, less predictable, and harder for uninformed businesses to proficiently navigate. U.S. companies that don’t have a strong grasp of the risk mitigation strategies at their disposal are going to be experiencing major losses at the hands of tariffs and other emerging trade barriers. 

Supply chain risk management platform Z2Data gives organizations the data and visibility they need to develop and implement decisive risk management measures. Z2Data provides customers access to three proprietary databases that encompass over 1 billion electronic components, 1 million suppliers, and 200,000 manufacturing sites all over the world. These databases, and the insights, expertise, and real-time supply chain monitoring that complement them, allow firms to deploy a range of strategies for reducing the burden associated with tariffs:

• Identifying alternative sources, including both in the U.S. and globally.
• Searching for cross-references based on form-fit-function requirements.
• Developing and implementing “tariff engineering” practices.
• Compiling the data required for a tariff exposure index.
• Parsing sub-tier intelligence to pinpoint potential tariff exposures.

To learn more about Z2Data and how it can help business leaders steer their organizations through increasingly dynamic supply chains, schedule a free trial with one of our product experts.