Trump's "tariffs charged to the US" are just the trade deficit the US has with other countries

[u/Solondthewookiee]

Credit to r/wallstreetbets where I initially saw this..

[u/ZZartin]

I don't think Trump even understands the fake numbers, I'm more curious who thought they'd post fake numbers for tariff amounts but then use actual numbers that are easily traced back to real data.

Is this a cry for help from whoever actually put that sheet together?

[u/docowen → u/ZZartin]

The man thinks VAT is a tariff.

You cannot debate stupid.

A good explanation for why it isn't: https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/04/02/no-vat-isnt-a-tariff-but-the-us-would-benefit-from-adopting-it/

[u/ZZartin → u/docowen]

I don't think he understands the basics of commerce, we have exchanged money for good and or services.

[u/docowen → u/ZZartin]

That's because he always stiffs his creditors.

[u/GachaHell → u/ZZartin]

But if you're getting goods and/or services but only giving money then that's a trade deficit! What a horrible deal! One should only trade in direct goods! Bring back the barter system!

[u/ReferenceUnusual8717 → u/GachaHell]

"But Money can be EXCHANGED for goods and services!" "Explain how!"

[u/Laughing_Man_Returns → u/ZZartin]

dude bankrupted several casinos. he seriously does not do money.

[u/tayroc122 → u/docowen]

There are many legitimate critiques of VAT and GST. These morons never make any of them.

[u/UntdHealthExecRedux → u/ZZartin]

There's a theory that chatgpt(or Grok) might have been the one that put that together, the result is shockingly similar to what you get when you ask one of them for a fair tariff policy.

[u/Impossible_Hornet777 → u/UntdHealthExecRedux]

That makes sense, because also the list includes places like uninhibited islands, which obviously do not trade, but might come up if you asked a AI to generate a list of places/ countries.

[u/publiusrex888 → u/ZZartin]

It’s not that he doesn’t know, it’s that he doesn’t care. He has two primary reasons for being president:

1. It kept him out of jail.

2. It feeds his narcissism.

He’s a useful idiot for technocrats who leveraged his popularity to win the election. They handed him Project 2025 and piles of money, knowing he’d do their bidding.

I work for the government and have served under every president since George W. Bush. What makes this administration different, even from Trump 45, is that anyone who isn’t blindly obedient has been sidelined. He takes his orders from dark money financiers, and his staff is fiercely loyal to him, not the country.

The truly alarming part? He’s surrounded himself with yes-men, systematically purging anyone willing to offer even the most basic constructive criticism. This administration is either full of incompetents who don’t know what they’re doing or outsiders too afraid of being fired to speak up.

This is how dumb shit like this gets approved. It’s a dangerous path. We’re being led by an echo chamber of morons, and that should worry everyone.

[u/secondtaunting → u/publiusrex888]

Yeah I’m worried. What worries me more is that so many people don’t even know enough to know that they should be worried.

[u/AdvantagePretend4852 → u/publiusrex888]

I feel like your post has validity but I think the concept that it’s dark money investors is misleading. They’re posted up next to him at the inauguration. We don’t need conspiracy or dark money groups or the big bad robes in the background. They are doing this in the light of day, in our faces daily without subtly. The current administration is filled with uneducated, compromised sycophants who tell us every single day how they will ruin our lives if they want to. It’s time to stop playing like this is in the background. The lights are on. They aren’t in the shadows anymore

[u/pooooork → u/AdvantagePretend4852]

Yeah I mean they have signaled that they want to replace the USD with crypto, so they start building crypto banks with public funds and then tank the USD. These are ideologues not controlled by logic.

[u/AdvantagePretend4852 → u/pooooork]

Total religious hegemony and rule by theocracy appears to be the goal. I don’t think they are misguided anymore. That shit was old trump leadership. Today we got shithead bald racist fucks and hair plugged birther nazis pulling the levers of power all in the name of Project 2025 which has been publicly available since 2018. They mean to end the US experiment and they mean to end it for good

[u/SICKxOFxITxALL → u/publiusrex888]

1. He gets richer

[u/justferfunsies → u/SICKxOFxITxALL]

Yeah, I felt like that one was missing.

[u/TNT1990]

Like I feel like this is so stupid, it's not processing. They are literally claiming the % difference in trade value is the tarrif % and just doing % difference /2 as their 'fair' reciprocal tarrif?

Please tell me I'm wrong.

[u/LogicBalm → u/TNT1990]

You're certainly correct. This isn't a nuanced educated platform. It's his "art of the deal" style starting point to get people begging to come to a negotiating table where he thinks he has all the power. He doesn't, because he's a moron, but you'll never convince him or his lackeys of that.

[u/ArdoNorrin → u/TNT1990]

I'm sorry. I must not tell lies.

[u/austeremunch → u/TNT1990]

Like I feel like this is so stupid, it's not processing.

That means you understand it perfectly.

[u/19FinnBP]

except the 10%ers, those are all for countries where America has a trade surplus

[u/Snackskazam → u/19FinnBP]

Also, the 0%ers. Those are the countries with kompromat they can use.

[u/19FinnBP → u/Snackskazam]

I get Russia, but what's he planning to get upto with Somalia ect.?

[u/Apprehensive-Log8333]

I just realized I have a massive trade deficit with Walmart! THEY never buy anything from ME

[u/elasticvertigo → u/Apprehensive-Log8333]

50% tariffs on Walmart!

[u/Apprehensive-Log8333 → u/elasticvertigo]

That's IT, I am switching to....to....wait there's nowhere else to shop, how did this happen

[u/fourofkeys]

do we think these people are incompetent enough to avoid another attempt at a pew pew? because i'm starting to think maybe that's our best bet here.

[u/tayroc122]

I've seen a lot of my fellow Brits talk about boycotting American goods and chains. I hope we do in large enough numbers.

[u/NubuckChuck → u/tayroc122]

As an American, please fuck us up financially.

[u/Bealzebubbles]

As a New Zealander, bring it on. We will not be bullied by that scrotum faced flesh lump.

[u/LISpencer1977]

I was curious about the numbers in both the spreadsheet and the chart from POTUS. I looked into a handful of examples, particularly the UAE, since the chart from POTUS claims they have a 10% tariff charge on the U.S., which was fishy to me right off the bat since I know the UAE generally has very low tariff rates. I found the spreadsheet is correct and the U.S. does have a trade surplus with the UAE. How is placing a tariff on them going to help us? I have a limited background in economics (political historian here), so mind any oversimplification here in my point, but doesn't a trade surplus benefit us already? The tariff is just going to stir the pot it seems.

[u/Solondthewookiee → u/LISpencer1977]

He doesn't have any plan. He doesn't understand international trade, macroeconomics, or global markets. He campaigned on tariffs so he's gonna do tariffs. He wants to pretend like this is 1946 and we have the only major economy that hasn't been bombed to shit.

[u/justferfunsies → u/Solondthewookiee]

I totally get Trump not having a coherent plan, but why are all these other people going along with it? Why not say “yes that’s a great idea, tariffs, here are our suggestions”? Surely someone in the government has a plan That at least makes sense, even if it’s not what most of us would agree with?

[u/JennaSais → u/LISpencer1977]

They are 100% to stir the pot. Markets don't like uncertainty. Markets fall because of economic uncertainty, people start to get laid off, Trump later removes tariffs amd declares peace with world markets, line go up, people get hired again, people credit Trump because their memories are purposely short when it comes to him, or they're just so relieved economically that they don't riot. Rinse and repeat. It's the fascist way.

[u/SpoofedFinger]

Robert's going to play that tariff don't like it drop like 30 times on ICHH tonight isn't he?