Truth from a rabid leftist website? NONSENSE. ‘Nuff said.
Rather than attack the website, try mustering some facts.
“Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the U.S. and each of our trading partners. This calculation assumes that persistent trade deficits are due to a combination of tariff and non-tariff factors that prevent trade from balancing. Tariffs work through direct reductions of imports....”
A mathematical formula is provided:
The tariffs were calculated using a formula that takes how much a given country sells to the U.S. (exports), subtracts how much that country buys from the U.S. (imports) to calculate the trade deficit, and then divides the trade deficit by that country’s total exports to the U.S., according to experts.
For exaample, in the case of the European Union, the resulting number came out to 0.389, or 39 per cent. This number, according to the White House, represents alleged unfair trading practices.
It was then divided roughly in half to produce the U.S.’s “discounted reciprocal” tariff.