US media: Trump personally selected the tariff calculation formula, making the final decision just three hours before the official announcement.

On April 5, The Washington Post reported that after Trump took office as President of the United States, the government’s economic staff began a daunting task: to determine tariff rates for dozens of countries in order to fulfill his campaign promise of setting up “reciprocal” trade barriers. After weeks of work, assistants from several government agencies drafted a list of options covering various trade practices. However, Trump personally chose a formula based on two simple variables. Sources said it was unclear who proposed this option, but it bore some startling similarities to the methods advocated by Trump’s first-term economic advisor Navarro. After the tariff measures were announced on Wednesday, the market fell sharply, and this rough calculation was ridiculed by economists. The report also stated that after discussions late Tuesday night, Trump did not finalize the plan until around 1 PM on Wednesday—less than three hours before his announcement in the Rose Garden. (Jin10 )