Aggregate Real Imports and Exports, through the Trade War

From the advance GDP release:

Figure 1: Imports of goods (blue), exports of goods (brown), both in bn. Ch.2012$, SAAR. NBER recession dates shaded gray; orange shading denotes 2017Q1-2020Q4. Source: BEA, 2021Q3 advance release, and NBER.

By the time of the NBER peak at 2019Q4, real imports were 5.9% higher than in 2016Q4 (in log terms).