Dear Editor:
Very simply, U.S. President Donal Trump’s tariff scheme is based on how much a country sells to the U.S. and how much a country imports from the U.S. So say a country exports $200,000 to the USA and only imports $50,000, then by dividing the imports into the exports you come up with the “Trump vision of the tariff rate.” This country is charging the U.S. 25% in this case. Which really is not a tariff, it just a difference in value, so now Trump will charge you a 25% tariff on all goods you import from the U.S.
But because American-produced products can never surpass all the products made in the world, it will most always have a deficit to most countries.
The Trump bottom line tariff amount is 10%, even if a country imports more than it exports to the U.S. Pretty simple (Grade 3) math from this so-called new administration.
Thank goodness he has not applied this to Canada this round, but hang on to your wallet, it’s not over yet.
Paul Roberts,
Fergus