President Trump has long been fixated on narrowing the trade deficit, which he believes is a measure of whether countries around the world are taking advantage of the U.S. Though few economists share that view, the new figures suggest that by his own metric, Mr. Trump is failing.

Reasons: The increase in the amount of goods imported was driven, in part, by a broader economic slowdown and the strength of the U.S. dollar, both of which weakened global demand for American exports.

The Trump administration’s trade war and tax cuts exacerbated the trend. In fact, the U.S. imported a record amount of goods from China, despite Mr. Trump’s tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese goods, and American exports to China fell by nearly 50 percent in December. And money from the tax cuts helped Americans buy more imported goods.

Made in America: Four companies in the U.S. were found to have falsely advertised that their products were American-made when in fact they were manufactured in China.