Deep Maths!

The method used to calculate the most important numbers in international trade, politics and economics has left some of the world’s leading experts shocked.

For each country, the White House looked up its trade in goods deficit for 2024, then divided that by the total value of imports. Trump, to be “kind”, said he would, however, offer a discount, so halved that figure. The calculation was even distilled into a formula.

For example, take the figures for China:

• Goods trade deficit: $291.9bn

• Total goods imports: $438.9bn

• Those figures divided = 0.67, or 67%

• And halved = 34%