It’s shocking how bad people are at thinking and reasoning. 1. Trump has been obsessed with tariffs, outsourcing, and the rape of the working class for 40 years. 2. His trade rep’s office DID the advanced math and analysis for every country. 3. Trump reviewed it and recognized the analysis was the right private, bilateral analysis, but needed something more generalized to kick off the negotiations. 4. Trump recommends the meme formula, which is directionally sound policy: cut trade imbalance in half and capture in a single shorthand all anti-American shenanigans (R&D freeloading, IP theft, currency manipulation, regulatory deltas, VAT rebates, etc.) 5. Now the USTR can kick off bilateral discussions with their full analysis, and execute 100+ trade agreements, building up to address the two biggest issues we have: China aggression, Euro freeloading.