alt Hacker NewsSomeone calculated the formula used. They divided the trade deficit of each country by total trade of each country and assumed that was all a tariff.
So for example Indonesia and the US traded $28 billion. The US has a 17.9 billion trade deficit with Indonesia. 17.9/28 =0.639, or 64%, which is assumed to be all caused by tariffs. So they divide by two and impose 32%.
Anyway no the US isn't matching tariffs they're dramatically exceeding them.
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That's a bit of a messed up way to calculate things.
I also think the US deficits are hugely overstated because much of what the US produces is intellectual capital rather than physical goods and the profits are made to appear in foreign subsidiaries for tax reasons. Like if I buy Microsoft stuff in the UK, Microsoft make out it was made in Ireland for tax purposes, but really the value is created in and owned by the US. The US company both wrote the software and owns Microsoft Ireland. So much of the perceived unfairness Trump is having a go at isn't real.
Thanks for pointing this out. As a follow up, if the US has a trade surplus, they seem to just slap 10% in both columns.