Skip Navigation
236 comments

  • I'm seeing a lot of 10% countries there. Does anyone know what the 10% countries have in common that the others don't? I strongly doubt the "Tariffs Charged to the USA (including Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers" is a real number. It seems more like an arbitrary number they've invented to justify going after some countries but not others. There must be a difference between the 10% countries and these other ones that they're focused on beyond this made up number they've invented.

    Madagascar at 93% made up number, what's that about? Cambodia at 97% made up number, what's that about? Laos at 95% made up number...

    Reads like a priority target list.

    • 10% is the default tarrif on practically all countries.

      • I get that. My point is mainly about the number they're inventing though.

        • I initially got it wrong, updated now. It's US trade deficit with country divided by US imports from country.

          • That's stupidly simple and describing it as "including currency manipulation and trade barriers" is ridiculous.

        • So 10% seems to be the default/minimum for countries that have no or little tarrifs on the US. The made up numbers like 97% is not to do with the countries actual tarrifs, but their trade deficit to the United States and total US export. So let's take Cambodia: $12.3 billion dollar trade deficit with the United States, and U.S. goods exports to Cambodia: $321.6 million. 12.3/321.6 = 0.038, rounded down to 0.03. 1-0.03=0.97, or 97%. I haven't checked the others, but this seems to be how the numbers are calculated.

          Nah this is wrong the figures are wrong, had a brain fart above. It's US imports from country, not exports that are used. The explanation below is right:

          US trade deficit with South Africa: $8.8 billion. US goods imports from South Africa: $14.7 billion. 8.8/14.7 = 0.598, or 59.8%.

          US trade deficit with Cambodia: $12.3 billion. U.S. goods imports from Cambodia: $12.7 billion. 12.3/12.7 = 0.969, or 96.9%.

    • It's trade deficit divided by their exports.

      • What the fuck is with the "currency manipulation and trade barriers" explanation if it's that simply?

        I hate these people.

        • They want countries to buy American and equalise on exports and imports. In other words, the USA must not have a trade deficit with other countries, the USA wants to reduce it's trade deficit and the USA wants to start manufacturing and exporting goods themselves, and they want to use tarrifs to create the market conditions to enable this. Cambodia only exports $321 million in goods to the USA, but the USA imports $12.7 billion in goods from Cambodia. Thus a trade deficit of $12.3 billion. Thus the tarrif of 97%. 12.3/12.7=97%. If Cambodia imported more US goods/the US exports more to Cambodia, or if Cambodia exported less goods to be USA/the USA imported less Cambodian goods, or a combination of both, the tarrif would be lower. The only way to get the tarrif to 0 would be to equalise on exports and imports/get trade deficit to zero, or the US having a trade surplus with Cambodia.

          It's a crazy plan to try force the US to start manufacturing things itself again, on paper.

          • This will take 10 years before it succeeds. Trump will need another term or it will be undone.

          • It's a crazy plan to try force the US to start manufacturing things itself again, on paper.

            Will porky even bite on this? Seems really delusional, and even if they did, it would takes decades to retrain the AmeriKKKan people to work in skilled factory jobs

        • They literally admitted it

          “The numbers [for tariffs by country] have been calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers … based on the concept that the trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all trade practices, the sum of all cheating,” a White House official said, calling it “the most fair thing in the world.”

          • This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It's like saying the 7-eleven is "cheating" because I buy more stuff from them than they buy from me.

236 comments