Posted on 04/07/2025 3:56:21 AM PDT by karpov
Donald Trump has repeatedly said that his move to impose wide-ranging tariffs is based on the simple concept of reciprocity: The U.S. should put the same conditions on imports from other countries that they impose on our goods through tariffs and other trade barriers.
But the tariff scheme he announced isn’t reciprocal and isn’t based on measuring foreign trade barriers. Instead, it simply measures bilateral trade deficits and comes up with tariff numbers from there.
Those are two very different things, and could be one reason why global financial markets are reacting so badly.
The upshot is that, in the majority of cases, the Trump administration is now charging other countries more than what they charge the U.S.
Take the case of Vietnam. The U.S. will now charge Vietnam a 46% tariff for its exports to the U.S. But Vietnam’s simple average tariff is 9.4%, and its weighted average tariff—which is adjusted to account for the share of products coming in under different tariff rates—is just 5.1%, according to data from the World Trade Organization.
Taiwan charges most imports just a 2% duty, according to calculations by Evercore, a global advisory firm. But the U.S. will now charge it 32%.
“While billed as ‘reciprocal tariffs’ no attempt was made to measure foreign trade barriers, and instead the incremental increase was based solely on bilateral trade deficits,” Abiel Reinhart, an economist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a note to clients.
Using trade deficits rather than trade barriers as a yardstick has vastly different implications. Trying to level the playing field on trade barriers such as tariffs is relatively straightforward. Trying to eliminate trade deficits is a far more complicated and disruptive undertaking, as the global selloff in financial markets shows.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
These tariffs are a disaster for the economy and the stock market, and they will be disastrous for the Republican party unless Trump scales them back, as Ted Cruz has warned.
It’s why you should never shave with a machete.
Is the equivalent of saying according to the testimony of Jussie Smollett.
Concern troll concerned
You have no point and nothing you say on tariffs has any merit until you can explain how the other countries kept tariffs on us and they have prospered off us.
Until you can explain why it is ok for everyone else to do it just not America there is no point in reading your posts other than to laugh at them.
Trump will scale them back as they come to the negotiating table. Interesting that the WSJ should invoke Vietnam as they were one of the first countries to announce that they would like zero tariffs. So stuff that into your bong and smoke it WSJ.
Wait a minute!
Was it all fake news that reported that MANY OF THESE COUNTRIES ARE READY AND WILLING TO NEGOTIATE?
Please unconfuse me
By the way...Wall Street Journal...PTUIE!!!
The tariffs are designed to be chaotic and disruptive. The Trump administration is trying to drive investors to U.S. Treasury bonds in a desperate attempt to drive down those interest rates.
There’s a reason why this is all happening NOW. The first generation of 5-Year Treasury bills that was issued during the COVID fiasco at rates of 0.4% are coming due. The U.S. cannot afford to refinance that debt at the 4.5% rates we saw in January 2025. THE END.
“and they will be disastrous for the Republican party”
Hardly, the GOPe (not to confused with the GOP) brought us this brink of disaster collapse of $37,000,000,000,000 in debt by doing NOTHING the last two generations and printed money to do it. They (the uniparty) collectively brought this ‘tariff’ business upon themselves, this is not difficult to understand.
Jus tlike the poster, the WSJ and the WTO are lying.
Take this quote FTA for example:
“Take the case of Vietnam. The U.S. will now charge Vietnam a 46% tariff for its exports to the U.S. But Vietnam’s simple average tariff is 9.4%, and its weighted average tariff—which is adjusted to account for the share of products coming in under different tariff rates—is just 5.1%, according to data from the World Trade Organization.”
Now here is the lie, they role op all trade goods together where some goods have 0 tariffs even, but that is a false analogy because many goods have no impact and do not matter who makes them. Like who cares where beanie babies come from. But Steel is a big thing, and a country will have a near 100% tariff on that important commodity and low to none on others. Trump has literally made his reciprocal tariffs based on basically half of those tariffs on actual goods and trade that matters.
That is the lie the WSJ and WTO are telling and the one the OP is promoting in his post.
Let me guess, you didn’t read the article. The article is saying that the tariff rates on the chart Trump held up were bogus.
Making money of tariffs is not a crime, WSJ. Additionally, reciprocity need not be financial to be equitable in nature.
If this tariff thing works to reduce my tax load and the load on other Americans, I don’t give a tinker’s damn what WSJ other trash legacy media venue says about them.
Driving down interest rates by causing a global recession is not the genius move you think it is.
And why should “the article” be believed?
You get it! Covid was used to create a debt bomb for the USA, the globalists were going to use it to financially crush us and take control.
Trump likely know this as his actions show is he doing things to defuse that debt bomb.
I know people will freak out of this next statement but is it the harsh truth, the stock market needs a MASSIVE CORRECTION, basically a crash to get rid of all the phoney baloney money and fake invested assets allowing a real value reset, it will either be controlled by Trump or by the globalists, you pick who is better to control that event and work from the outcome after.
“If Washington still wants to ‘do something’ about immigration, we propose a five-word constitutional amendment: ‘There shall be open borders’.”“Ptooey” indeed.
— WSJ editorial board, 07/03/1984
The globalist leftists definitely need to be purged from our stock market.
omg, Skwor, YOU ANSWERED ME AND I UNDERSTOOD IT.
Thank you very much.
I didn’t say it was a genius move. It’s a NECESSARY move.
Let me guess, you did not read my post and you believe the WTO as a credible source. I am fully aware the article calls Trump a liar on tariffs, having read it. Here is a surprise EVERY LSM organization calls trump a liar and ALL of them have been the one lying. Going by your “credible” sources Trump is also literally Hitler, wants to force women to have babies and wants to take away constitutional rights. Take your insane ramblings elsewhere.
Feel free to show where the posted rate the trump listed was factually false, for example show where a value he posted is different from what was assessed.
Using the WSJ and the WTO as credible sources shows how utterly devoid to critical thinking you are and how much a lemming you enjoy being following the lies of the liberal media machine.
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