Reports are that Trump ignored all his advisors and did what he wanted so your point isn't relevant. I haven't heard a single analyst find sense in how tariff levels were set per country - someone did notice that it appeared a very simple formula had been applied, one that has no basis in economic theory.
Go open 10 year chats for the GDP, S&P 500, etc.
There was no problem with "level playing fields."
All of this is just one man who for forty years has been obsessed with how "we" are supposedly being "taken advantage of."
The economy overall was doing fine - intense economic stratification is a problem, but overall the country's economy was productive.
Man steps in, inheriting a growing economy doing just fine...and after months of uncertainty and upheaval, in two days erases a year's worth of economic growth.
> I haven't heard a single analyst find sense in how tariff levels were set per country - someone did notice that it appeared a very simple formula had been applied, one that has no basis in economic theory.
I find it funny people keep talking about someone figuring out it out when they actually published it, including the reasoning with references at the bottom: https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations
> Man steps in, inheriting a growing economy doing just fine...and after months of uncertainty and upheaval, in two days erases a year's worth of economic growth.
He'll never get away with it a third time!