U.S. media: Trump personally selected the tariff calculation formula, and made the final decision just three hours before the official announcement.

On April 5, The Washington Post reported that after Donald Trump took office as President of the United States, economic staffers in the government began the daunting task of determining tariff rates for dozens of countries to fulfill his campaign promise of instituting “reciprocal” trade barriers. After weeks of work, aides from several government agencies developed a list of options covering various trade practices. However, Trump personally chose a formula based on two simple variables. Sources say it is unclear who proposed this option, but it bears some striking similarities to the methods used by Trump’s first-term economic advisor Navarro. Following the announcement of the tariff measures on Wednesday, the markets fell sharply, and this rough calculation was ridiculed by economists. Reports also indicated that after discussions late Tuesday night, Trump did not finalize the plan until around 1 p.m. on Wednesday—less than three hours before his announcement in the Rose Garden. (Jin10)