From Laos to Brazil, Trump's tariffs leave a lot of losers. But even the winners will pay a price

President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught this week left a lot of losers – from small, poor countries like Laos and Algeria to wealthy U.S. trading partners like Canada and Switzerland. They’re now facing hefty taxes – tariffs – on the products they export to the United States. What’s unclear is whether there will ultimately be any winners – even in the United States, the intended beneficiary of Trump’s protectionist policies. Trump’s trade war has pushed the average U.S. tariff from 2.5% at the start of 2025 to 18.3% now, the highest since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. One expert at the New York Law School said that “in many respects, everybody’s a loser here.’’