By Will Weissart
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has pledged tariffs to raise the US high enough to reflect other valuations as trade punishments for US goods.
What he actually imposes is based on much more complicated mathematics.
Let’s take a look at how the White House got that number.
Why do new tariff rates often differ from country to country?
The Trump administration has declared a “economic emergency” that bypasses Congress and places 10% tariffs on almost every country and territory. It sets even higher taxes in around 60 countries, calling it the “worst” criminal.
The 10% global tariff will come into effect at 12:01am on Saturday. The higher tariffs set for certain countries are expected to begin just after midnight on April 9th.
Among the so-called worst criminals is China, which claims that Trump will protect producers through “malicious” trade practices in addition to tariffs. These efforts include actions such as imposing a VAT on all products and dumping them into the market to artificially shrink over-produced products.
To determine how expensive the rates of these countries are, the White House says it calculated the size of the imbalance of trade in each country with the US for goods and split it by the amount of America importing it from that country.
After that, half of that percentage was spent and the new tariff rate was reached.
Wine Graver Vincent Dampute serves Chablis wine glasses at his office in Chablis, Burgundy region, eastern France, on Thursday, April 3, 2025 (AP Photo/Tibochamus)
The cars line up before being loaded onto a ship at the port of BLG Autotel Minal Bremerhaven in Germany on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 (SINA SCHULDT/DPA via AP)
The Chablis wine bottle will be stored on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at the winemaking facility at Wine Gravare Vincent Dampute, Chablis, Burgundy region, eastern France.
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Wine Graver Vincent Dampute serves Chablis wine glasses at his office in Chablis, Burgundy region, eastern France, on Thursday, April 3, 2025 (AP Photo/Tibochamus)
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Why don’t you charge mutual fees?
The White House says its calculations prevent new tariffs from getting even higher in many countries, indicating that Trump is “kind” to its global trading partners.
The administration argues that China and others will need to produce baseline collections with few exemptions to prevent China and others from exploiting new tariffs, with the goods being manufactured, cleaned up new tariffs, then shipped to Vietnam, Cambodia, Mexico or elsewhere and sent to the US.
So the list of locations with customs at the White House includes obscure locations like the Heard Islands and the MacDonald Islands. It claims its territory, 2,550 miles (4,100 kilometers) from the coast of mainland Australia.
Are all countries affected?
no. Canada and Mexico are excluded as they are already facing a 25% tax on most imports that Trump announced last month.
The White House originally said everything else would be affected by at least 10% tariffs. But executive officials said Thursday that Russia will not face a new 10% global basic tariff due to the invasion of nations that already curb US sanctions – for example Ukraine, North Korea, Cuba, Belarus and Venezuela.
Officials said sanctions and other existing barriers are because the deficit is minimal, as it means that the US has little trade with those locations.
Why is Trump doing this?
The president spent months claiming that America was the wealthiest in the late 1800s and early 1900s, imposing high tariffs as an important tool to generate income for the federal government, claiming that America was the wealthiest.
Trump suggested Wednesday that in 1913 the US had helped to separate from higher tariffs and trigger the Great Depression of the 1930s.
A more contemporary explanation can be found in Project 2025. This is a comprehensive blueprint compiled by leading conservatives on how to reduce the federal workforce and push Washington to the right. It spelled out how Trump imposes high tariffs around the world, and his administration gave room to negotiate lower taxes with his trading partners in exchange for US priorities.
White House officials argue that the new tariffs are more about stimulating US manufacturing and generating government revenue than negotiating new deals in the end.
But Trump has shown he is willing to set back the tariff threat in exchange for a concession offer. His administration says the president is always ready to do business. This is a sign that new tariffs may prove to be more negotiation tips than permanent policies.
Why is imbalance important in the US?
The US trade policy created a US trade imbalance worth $1.2 trillion last year. This is a gap that some experts believe should be addressed to ensure the country’s long-term economic strength.
But many economists say the trade imbalances Trump is trying to fix are based on more than countries that use high tariffs or protectionist trade practices to boost their own exports. For example, it does not take into account consumer demand based on White House tariff mathematics based solely on trade deficits.
Americans enjoy the purchase of BMWs assembled in Germany, as well as French wine and coffee beans from Guatemala, whose spending can be fueled by trade imbalances, regardless of the tax and tariff policies of the country that produces those goods.
This means that trying to close the US trade gap due to tariffs will increase the costs of imports Americans are purchasing, which could undermine the economy due to increased inflationary pressures.
Associated Press authors Josh Bork and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Original issue: April 3, 2025, 2:15pm EDT
