However, ‘reciprocal duties’ work differently. The White home published a pattern

This model illustrates the Reuter Agency: “Mathematics is simple: take a deficit in the trade of U.S. goods with a given country, divide it by exporting it to the United States and convert it into a percentage; then reduce this figure by half to get an American “mutual” customs tariff, from a lower 10% limit.”

Calculation on the knee

American writer and book author James SurowieckiThe first to draw attention to the “wonderful formula”, considers that everything was a kind of “calculation made on the knee”. "For each country they simply took our trade deficit with this country and divided it by exporting it to us. What extraordinary nonsense.” Presenting the fresh tariffs in the Rose Garden, Donald Trump explained that the consequence thus obtained was inactive halved due to the fact that he, the president, is simply a mild man." The countries with which the United States has a trade surplus were besides subject to duties - a uniform tariff of 10% was set for them.

For example, government officials took the U.S. trade deficit with the European Union: $235.6 billion in 2024 and divided it by EU exports to the United States, which amounted to a full of $605.8 billion. The consequence was 39%, which the Washington government interpreted as an "unfair" EU trade advantage over the US. 39 percent were divided in half. The White home so adopted a 20% work (rounded) for the EU, presenting them as a remedy to compensate for the odds. In fact, however, the European Union imposes a work of around 2.5 percent on goods from the United States. To 39 percent the road is far away. Trump's people have besides rather arbitraryly counted another charges, which are not duties, but, in their opinion, actually do. VAT can be listed here, which has irritated the American leader.