Trump’s new tariff math looks a lot like ChatGPT’s
1 min read
Summary
A recent announcement from US President Donald Trump regarding the country’s new trade policy was met with widespread bewilderment.
It was claimed that Trump’s team may have based these policies on an oversimplified calculation recommended by several major AI chatbots.
This calculation can be recreated by taking a country’s trade deficit with the US and dividing it by their total exports, resulting in what has been termed “extraordinary nonsense”, according to economist James Surowiecki.
It remains unclear how the Trump administration arrived at these figures, but if they come into effect from April 5th, the world will be watching to see what impact they have on global trade.
Such policies could have substantial negative consequences, and many economists are skeptical of tariffs as an effective tool for balancing trade deficits.