The Trade Policy Uncertainty (TPU) Index counts the frequency of joint occurrences of trade policy and uncertainty terms across major newspapers. The TPU Index is based on searches of the archives of seven newspapers: The Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. The measure is calculated by counting the monthly frequency of articles discussing trade policy uncertainty (as a share of the total number of news articles) for each newspaper. The index is then normalized to a value of 100 for a 1 percent article share. The TPU Index starts in 1960.
For more information about the TPU Index, visit Trade Policy Uncertainty (TPU) Index. Daily data are available at that site.
Latest update: October 5, 2026
Update notes: Files will be updated around the first of each month.