(Radio Iowa) – A survey of manufacturing supply managers in Iowa and eight other Midwestern states finds the tariffs enacted by President Trump last year are causing wide-reaching financial troubles for many American companies. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says even though the nation’s highest court struck down the president’s tariffs in late February, the damage is already done. Plus, Goss says Trump’s response will only continue making things worse.

“The Supreme Court issued a statement and a ruling that really saved the president from himself,” Goss says. “Now, he didn’t take that as I would have hoped he did, by that I mean, just let it go. He, instead, implemented even more tariffs and more uncertainty.” The president initially enacted the tariffs on dozens of countries, saying they would help to level the playing field for U-S companies to compete, but Goss says it’s clear the move had the opposite effect.

“The exports and imports for 2025, even with these tariffs, we’re still running a deficit and the deficit did not come down to any significant extent, about a half a percent from ’24 to ’25,” Goss says. “And of course, that hurts agriculture and manufacturing.” Goss says the monthly survey showed a sharp upturn in new February orders, which pushed the overall economic index for Iowa and for the region into solid growth territory, though he says difficulties persist.

“Six out of 10 supply managers in manufacturing in our survey reported that tariffs were hurting their firm, so that’s obviously not good,” Goss says. “We asked about AI, and this did surprise me, 87% said not much of an impact at all in their company thus far.”

The report says Iowa exported $13.6 billion of manufactured goods for all of last year, compared to $15.0 billion for 2024, for a 9.3% decline. Likewise, Iowa’s importation of manufactured goods fell from $11.6 billion in 2024 to $10.9 billion last year, for a 5.8% decline.