in Washington
After US President Donald Trump unveiled a massive tariff chart in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, announcing 10 per cent tariffs on all countries, and detailing higher reciprocal tariffs on what he called the “worst offenders”, a wave of questions rippled across the globe.
Why, for instance, are imports from Vietnam – a Southeast Asian nation the US has courted in recent years to counter China in the region – facing a staggering 46 per cent tariff?
‘How did South Korea products end up with a 25 per cent tariff?
Or Taiwan’s goods face 32 per cent, Switzerland’s 31 per cent and Indonesia’s 32 per cent?
How exactly did Trump and his tariff team arrive at these figures?
According to White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai: “We literally calculated tariff and non-tariff barriers”, sharing a maths formula on social media.
