Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

Five Most Absurd Things about Trump’s “Reciprocal” Tariffs

by April 3, 2025
April 3, 2025
Five Most Absurd Things about Trump’s “Reciprocal” Tariffs

Tad DeHaven

Where does one begin?

Well, in no particular order, and certainly not a complete listing, here are five absurd aspects of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tax hike on American consumers and businesses. And, yes, the entire situation itself is absurd.

Penguins Better Stop “Ripping Us Off”

The Heard and McDonald Islands are remote volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean “containing outstanding examples of biological and physical processes continuing in an environment essentially undisturbed by humans.” The president of the United States just imposed a 10 percent tariff on islands without human beings or economic activity. Maybe the White House is moving preemptively to discourage the Chinese from setting up export-oriented manufacturing facilities amongst the elephant seals and grey-headed albatrosses. 

Brazil Nuts

Colin Grabow notes that Brazil’s trade-weighted average tariff is 7.3 percent, while Singapore’s is 0 percent. Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on goods from both. The White House calls the tariffs “reciprocal,” but a reciprocal tariff is supposed to match another country’s tariff. Moreover, the US had a traded goods surplus with Brazil in 2024. According to Trump’s logic, the US is ripping off Brazil—and it still got hit with a tariff.

Stand with Israel

Since the 1980s, most US goods exported to Israel have been entering largely tax-free. On Tuesday (Liberation Day Eve), Israel removed the remaining taxes on goods imported from the US. One day later, Trump imposed a 17 percent tariff on Israel. Iran, which he recently threatened with a “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” got 10 percent. 

Pass the Vodka

Of the 180 countries hit with tariffs, Russia wasn’t one. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Russia was omitted because sanctions resulting from the war in Ukraine had already essentially shut down trade between the two countries. Although Russia was joined by the other three “Column 2” countries (Belarus, North Korea, and Cuba) in not making the list, the omission demonstrates the severe lack of thought behind the tariffing. In 2024, the US had a traded goods deficit with Russia (that’s, again, “ripping us off,” according to Trump). While overall trade with Russia is small, the $2.5 billion trade deficit was more significant than the $3.4 million deficit with tiny St. Pierre and Miquelon, which got tagged with a tariff of 50 percent.

Not So Intimidating Math

The Office of the United States Trade Representative released an explanation for how the “reciprocal” tariffs were calculated. The average person looking at it would likely be intimidated by the formula alone. But what may have looked intimidating was actually rather simple, as the following image shows. 

While these items may offer a chuckle, there’s nothing funny about the president of the United States having the power to blow up the global economy just because he doesn’t understand how trade works.

Speaking of not funny:

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
More About Trump’s Sham “Reciprocal” Tariffs
next post
Trump confirms National Security Council firings as Waltz’s Signal chat woes snowball

You may also like

U.S. Allowing Weapons Customers to Commit Crimes Against...

August 29, 2023

There Are Limits to What Testing Tells Us,...

June 21, 2023

Should the Government Have the Power to “Turn...

June 26, 2023

Presidents Can’t Overhaul Election Law by Decree

March 26, 2025

Moving Fast, Breaking Things, and the Oath of...

February 5, 2025

Charting Some of Industrial Policy’s Opportunity Costs

June 8, 2023

Expensing Could Help Manufacturing’s Productivity Problem

June 12, 2024

How DOJ Helps Federal Prosecutors Escape Accountability &...

January 29, 2025

Questioning the Housing Crisis: Demand Matters Too

December 17, 2024

The Consequences of Regulation: How GDPR Is Preventing...

June 22, 2023

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Trump warns of ‘serious consequences’ if Elon Musk funds Democrats

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk jokes about reconsidering stance on Big Beautiful Bill after Schiff’s praise

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk deletes explosive posts about Trump and Epstein files

      June 7, 2025
    • House witness flips script on Dem who ambushed him during hearing with unearthed tweet: ‘Iceberg is ahead’

      June 7, 2025
    • Call with China’s Xi, and Trump-Musk exchange fueled barbs during 20th week in office

      June 7, 2025
    • Trump’s conservative allies warn Congress faces critical ‘test’ with $9.4B spending cut proposal

      June 7, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,152)
    • Investing (2,019)
    • Politics (15,568)
    • Stocks (3,136)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved