https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-careless-stupidity-k...
Spot on. It's mob boss / bully tactics.
Appeasing bullies does. not. work.
[1] - https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations
In all my years I have never heard of a tariff being calculated in such a way. The fact that chatbots are readily willing to spit out such an answer is pretty damning and also troublesome.
Ostensibly, Trump had access to some of the world's best economists if he wanted them. Even if he wanted to pursue dumb policy, surely they could have found someone capable of doing the math. If it's true that they would rather have an intern ask a chatbot for a convenient answer, we are in for some truly tough times.