‘Willing sycophants’ came up with simplistic formula that has thrown global economy into disarray

Waving a big chart as a prop in the White House Rose Garden, Donald Trump suggested his new tariff plan was simple: “Reciprocal – that means they do it to us, and we do it to them. Very simple. Can’t get simpler than that.”

Perhaps a bit too simple. The method used to calculate the most important numbers in international trade, politics and economics has left some of the world’s leading experts shocked.

For each country, the White House looked up its trade in goods deficit for 2024, then divided that by the total value of imports. Trump, to be “kind”, said he would, however, offer a discount, so halved that figure. The calculation was even distilled into a formula.

  • @[email protected]English
    26•3 months ago

    Why? Why are they stunned by anything this idiot does? It’s like being shocked when a toddler shits in a diaper. He’s been doing it for years, he’s never done anything but that, it’s just more of the same idiocy. There’s nothing stunning about it.

    • PowderhornOPEnglish
      12•3 months ago

      The problem with that analogy is toddlers get potty trained well before 80.

        • PowderhornOPEnglish
          3•3 months ago

          It’s those damn low-flow toilets that refuse to flush classified documents on the first try.