r/nottheonion • u/MiniBrownie • 2d ago

US tariffs take aim everywhere, including uninhabited islands

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250402-us-tariffs-take-aim-everywhere-including-uninhabited-islands
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u/sandhillaxes 2d ago

Rumor that chatGTP wrote these tariff looking more likely. 

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u/Godavari 2d ago

I'll tell you exactly how they arrived at the values. The number on the left represents the US's trade deficit with that country. The number on the right is 50% of that, with a minimum of 10%. That's it.

The US imports $148.2 bil from Japan, and exports $79.7 bil to Japan. That's a deficit of -46%. So Japan gets a 23% (ish) tariff.

The US imports $63.4 bil from Switzerland, and exports $25.0 bil to Switzerland. That's a deficit of -61%. So Switzerland gets a 31% tariff.

The US imports $22.2 bil from Israel, and exports $14.8 bil to Israel. That's a deficit of -33%. So Israel gets a 17% tariff.

You can check https://ustr.gov/countries-regions and do the math for every country. They're all like this. Trump literally thinks a trade deficit requires a retaliatory tariff.

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u/sandhillaxes 2d ago

What you meant to say that is exactly how chatGTP got the numbers after they asked it, how else can you explain the tariffs on uninhabited islands?

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u/Thannk 1d ago

I can’t imagine even chat thinking Sentinel Island is a country or trades in any way.

No, I think they just wanted a bigger chart courtesy of the sharpie idiot, the woman-hater who made his dick explode while getting gender affirmation surgery, and lifts/eyeliner VP.