More from the analysis ...

... Yes, they have lowered growth, raised prices, and stoked inflation. Yes, they have flooded government coffers with new revenue. The administration remains committed to rebuilding its tariff wall after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected many of them earlier this year. On Thursday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 60 nations, including major trading partners. The move comes just as a temporary 10% global tariff expires, and follows new planned duties on Canada and Brazil.

But nearly 500 days since President Donald Trump first implemented them, broad global tariffs have failed to live up to the promises of supporters or the warnings of critics.

Instead, the lesson from these early days of big tariffs looks to be a political one. A president can rattle allies by imposing barriers to their products. He can raise a big but hidden tax on America's middle class. Yet the response to these actions so far has been more muted than predicted.

"President Trump effectively put in place a $3 trillion ... middle-class tax increase" spread over 10 years, says Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog in Washington. "And maybe people don't like the tariffs. But I haven't seen a tremendous amount of backlash." ...