President Trump sailed into the White House last year on confidence in his ability to handle the economy following 40-year high inflation and deep-seated financial frustration among voters.

Here are the big economic hallmarks of the first six months of his second term, spanning taxes, tariffs, deficits, markets, and the dollar — and how they could affect regular Americans.

Trade war 2.0

Trump has massively scaled up the reset of U.S. trade policy that he started during his first term and that was left largely in place during the Biden administration.

While his country-specific tariffs have been pushed back to Aug. 1 and multiple sketches of bilateral trade deals have been announced, the overall U.S. tariff level is around its highest levels in a century, mostly due to tariffs on China.

The tariff rate on China is now about 50 percent, according to different estimates, This is sparking concerns about a broader “decoupling” of the world’s two largest economies.

The Yale Budget Lab put the overall U.S. tariff level at 20.2 percent this week and Fitch Ratings put it at 14.1 percent last month. Total tariff rates have a large statistical range as they can be assembled and weighted in different ways.

Trump and the White House have announced trade deals with China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and the United Kingdom — but many specifics are still forthcoming.

Tariffs have likely started to show up in consumer prices. The consumer price index (CPI) ticked up to a 2.7-percent annual increase in June from 2.4 percent in May, and tariffs are expected to drive it higher.

Many economists — including those at the Federal Reserve — have cast the tariffs in stagflationary terms, meaning that they’ll push prices higher while detracting from growth.

Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted in the first quarter as importers pulled orders in ahead of tariffs. The Atlanta Fed is forecasting 2.4-percent annualized growth for the second quarter, which would be solid.

Trump has pursued his trade war with the stated goal of bringing back outsourced jobs and boost household income, but there are few signs of this happening so far.

Wage growth has fallen under Trump from a 4.2-percent annual increase in February to 3.9 percent in June. U.S. wage........

© The Hill