By Wyatte Grantham-Philips January 2, 2026 — 5.30am
President Donald Trump made a lot of tariff threats and trade promises in 2025. Many materialised into a barrage of new import taxes that overturned decades of US economic policy – but others have yet to be fulfilled after the year has finished.
Some of Trump’s unrealised threats reflect a broader approach from a president with a track record of using sky-high levies to pressure other countries into new trade deals, one-up retaliatory measures or even punish political critics.
Donald Trump made a lot of tariff threats and trade promises in 2025, but not all have come to pass. Credit: AP
At the same time, they arrived as growing list of tariffs did go into effect – from Trump’s punishing new taxes on imported metals, to tit-for-tat levies with top US trading partners like China – plunging consumers and businesses worldwide into uncertainty.
Here’s what Trump said when announcing some of his biggest (but still unrealised) tariff threats and promises this year, and where things stand today.
External Revenue Service In his words:
1. Trump in a January 14 social media post: “For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) … We will begin charging those that make money off of us w
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