•  In July 2025, the U.S. federal budget deficit surged to $291 billion, marking a 19% increase year-over-year and making it one of the largest July deficits in recent memory.

•  Tariff revenue jumped fourfold, climbing from approximately $7.1 billion in July 2024 to around $27.7 billion this year.

•  Despite this significant customs windfall, it was insufficient to counteract record-high spending across various sectors, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, interest on the national debt, and increased funding for defense, education, and healthcare.

•  The July deficit illustrates that while tariffs can provide one-off revenue boosts, they cannot reverse the broader structural imbalance between rising expenditures and revenues.