Trump’s tariffs were pitched as “reciprocal,” matching what other countries charge the United States dollar for dollar, even taking into account non-tariff barriers like value-added taxes and other such measures. But the actual calculation Trump used is not reciprocal at all. Matching countries’ tariffs dollar for dollar is an incredibly difficult task, involving matching a complex array of products, each of which has a different charge for any variants. Instead, Trump used quite a simple calculation: the country’s trade deficit divided by its exports to the United States times 1/2. That’s it. For example, America’s trade deficit with China in 2024 was $295.4 billion, and the United States imported $439.9 billion worth of Chinese goods. That means China’s trade surplus with the United States was 67% of the value of its exports - a value Trump labeled as “tariff charged to USA.” It will be interesting to see how other countries react to this kind of calculation.