E.J. Antoni

That is what he tasked members of his administration with, like the Commerce Department, like the U.S. Trade Representative, etc. That was the whole reason for the delay, for example. Waiting until April 2nd was to give those folks time to calculate what are the average effective

tariff rates among all these different countries around the world instead what we got was something that has literally nothing to do let me be perfectly clear these tariff rates have nothing to do with other nations tariff and non-tariff barriers they simply looked at the ratio of imports to exports, and only looked at the imports and exports of products, not even services.

tariff rates among all these different countries around the world instead what we got was something that has literally nothing to do let me be perfectly clear these tariff rates have nothing to do with other nations tariff and non-tariff barriers they simply looked at the ratio of imports to exports, and only looked at the imports and exports of products, not even services.

And so at the end of the day, you're simply looking at trade deficits. And again, it's just the trade deficit in terms of goods. Unfortunately, that means for some countries where we actually have an overall trade surplus, You know, maybe we sell them shoes. Excuse me. They they sell us shoes. So we're buying shoes from them, let's say.

And so at the end of the day, you're simply looking at trade deficits. And again, it's just the trade deficit in terms of goods. Unfortunately, that means for some countries where we actually have an overall trade surplus, You know, maybe we sell them shoes. Excuse me. They they sell us shoes. So we're buying shoes from them, let's say.

And then maybe we turn around and sell them financial services. And they are buying much more in financial services from us than we buy shoes from them. That's a trade surplus for the United States, except that according to this formula, it's counted as a trade deficit. And we impose a penalty tariff rate on that country for having that trade deficit in goods with them.

And then maybe we turn around and sell them financial services. And they are buying much more in financial services from us than we buy shoes from them. That's a trade surplus for the United States, except that according to this formula, it's counted as a trade deficit. And we impose a penalty tariff rate on that country for having that trade deficit in goods with them.

That's a ludicrous trade policy. It's not going to get us what we want, which is more free trade. That's the whole point of reciprocal tariffs. It's to force other nations to get rid of their tariff and non-tariff barriers so that just as foreign nations have access to our consumer markets, Our producers can have access to their consumer markets. That's the goal here.

That's a ludicrous trade policy. It's not going to get us what we want, which is more free trade. That's the whole point of reciprocal tariffs. It's to force other nations to get rid of their tariff and non-tariff barriers so that just as foreign nations have access to our consumer markets, Our producers can have access to their consumer markets. That's the goal here.

We want more free trade, not less. It's not that we're protectionists. It's that, again, we want true reciprocal free trade, free and fair trade, what some people call it. And the problem with how these tariffs are structured, because they're not actually looking at other nations' tariff and non-tariff barriers, is that we have imposed penalty rates on many countries who don't deserve them.

We want more free trade, not less. It's not that we're protectionists. It's that, again, we want true reciprocal free trade, free and fair trade, what some people call it. And the problem with how these tariffs are structured, because they're not actually looking at other nations' tariff and non-tariff barriers, is that we have imposed penalty rates on many countries who don't deserve them.

Why on earth is it we have a tariff rate on Israel that's almost twice as high as the one on Iran? Why is it that China has a tariff rate that's just, frankly, middle of the pack? They should have the highest rate among any nation because they engage in the most trade abuses, whether that's manipulation of the currency.

Why on earth is it we have a tariff rate on Israel that's almost twice as high as the one on Iran? Why is it that China has a tariff rate that's just, frankly, middle of the pack? They should have the highest rate among any nation because they engage in the most trade abuses, whether that's manipulation of the currency.

subsidizing industry and dumping artificially low-priced products in other countries' markets. You have slave labor. I can go on and on, whether it's currency manipulation, etc. The list just goes on and on when it comes to China and all of their unfair trade practices. And yet again, they have a middle-of-the-road tariff rate. So, The issue here is not the goal, right?

subsidizing industry and dumping artificially low-priced products in other countries' markets. You have slave labor. I can go on and on, whether it's currency manipulation, etc. The list just goes on and on when it comes to China and all of their unfair trade practices. And yet again, they have a middle-of-the-road tariff rate. So, The issue here is not the goal, right?

President Trump absolutely has the right goal. And I even think that his method, if you will, or his tactic of reciprocal tariffs was a good one. The issue here is how that was implemented. The issue here is that he has people within his administration who frankly have not served him well enough, who did not provide him with the reciprocal tariff schedule that That was promised.

President Trump absolutely has the right goal. And I even think that his method, if you will, or his tactic of reciprocal tariffs was a good one. The issue here is how that was implemented. The issue here is that he has people within his administration who frankly have not served him well enough, who did not provide him with the reciprocal tariff schedule that That was promised.

That's the issue here. And again, if you look at markets reaction, when it was first announced we were going to have this 10% across the board tariff, markets actually rallied initially. The futures markets went up, I think, about 1.5% on that news. But then all of a sudden, when this tariff schedule appeared. where it made absolutely no sense.

That's the issue here. And again, if you look at markets reaction, when it was first announced we were going to have this 10% across the board tariff, markets actually rallied initially. The futures markets went up, I think, about 1.5% on that news. But then all of a sudden, when this tariff schedule appeared. where it made absolutely no sense.

These numbers clearly did not come from tariff and non-tariff barriers. That's when futures started to tumble. And then we've had now three days, basically, where the markets have really taken it on the chin. Again, this all has to do with uncertainty. People don't know where we're going to go from here. And that's a problem.