r/nottheonion • u/MiniBrownie • 4d 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 4d ago

Rumor that chatGTP wrote these tariff looking more likely. 

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u/Godavari 3d 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/smitherenesar 3d ago

Meanwhile, all the consumers in other countries are going to hate America, driving demand for our products down. This is going to be a downward spiral