The tariffs are sanctions, but you still have to pay for them

Arthur Delaney reports for HuffPost:

“They didn’t actually calculate tariff rates + non-tariff barriers, as they say they did,” Surowiecki wrote. “Instead, for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country’s exports to us.”

In other words, the supposedly reciprocal tariffs, which are supposed to combat arbitrary foreign barriers to U.S. goods, are themselves based on an arbitrary formula.

White House Used 'Embarrassing' Formula To Come Up With Tariffs: Economists mocked the Trump administration's methods for calculating taxes on imports from abroad. Arthur Delaney, HuffPost, Apr 3, 2025

These tariffs are meant as sanctions.

They’re Not Tariffs, They’re Sanctions: Stop trying to place coherence on a policy that’s really just a mob boss breaking legs and asking for protection money. David Dayen | The American Prospect | April 3, 2025

Trump’s Tariffs Give Him a New Way to Dole Out Reward and Punishment: The president’s latest power grab will devastate America’s economy—and its democracy. Pama Levy| Mother Jones | April 3, 2025

But they're still taxes because you still have to pay for them.

We all share the same Earth, so when you sanction others, you sanction yourself.

Nothing makes sense:

This isn't real! I know what I know! (like, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

An anecdote:

"Mr. C, an elegant retired art dealer, was hospitalized overnight with a small stroke. The next morning, he felt well and was discharged. Within moments of returning home, he phoned my office in a panic. He was certain that his favorite antique desk had been replaced by a cheap Levitz reproduction. * * * "Yes, I admit that it is physically impossible that the desk has been replaced. But it has. You have to take my word for it. I know real when I see real, and this desk isn't real." He ran his hand along the grain, repeatedly fingering a couple of prominent wormholes. "It's funny," he said with a puzzled expression. "These are exact replicas of the holes in my desk. But they don't feel the least bit familiar. No," he announced emphatically, "someone must have replaced it." He then delivered the cognitive checkmate: "After all, I know what I know."
— Robert A. Burton. On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2008. pp. 16-17.

This anecdote reminded me of this story:

What We Fear From the ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. In 1954, it was a novel. Now it’s a handful of films. Still scary? (4 min read) Tucker Lieberman, The Shadow, Feb 2, 2021

They always planned Trump's installation. Our power lies in organizing.

"2023 was one of the worst years of my life. I had anticipatory grief for my father, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer that spring (this is mentioned briefly in the book, so I can mention it here, I suppose). I had anticipatory grief for my homeland, because officials do not let a seditionist run, unpunished, for president, unless the plan is reinstallation."
— "Someday, This Will Only Be a Memory" On my new book, and cold and warm comforts. Sarah Kendzior, Apr 1, 2025

Trump always plans to win before the die is cast. He plans to win arguments before going to court.

"I can sum up the Trump/Musk/Vance theory of power in five words: "We have power; you don't." Alternative version in six words: "we can do anything we want." They seem to believe that nothing is really connected to anything else and nothing should be. This is why they're hacking away at the US government and international alliances and good relationships with everything and everyone from the European Union to Canada and Mexico to a whole lot of the American people. They think they can go it alone.

* * *

These isolationists confuse coercion with power and cooperation with weakness, when in truth it is more or less the other way around. Coercion and violence are what you resort to when you have failed at convincing and allying and negotiating. Meanwhile our power lies in cooperation and connection, those of us who are still striving toward a more perfect union. We now must do it by opposing and obstructing the attempt to shatter and corrupt that union. We have power, and our power arises when we connect, when we join organizations like Indivisible (whose very name proclaims this truth), when we come together as civil society, when we act together to protect the vulnerable, to defend what we love."

— Rebecca Solnit, "No One Knows How This Will End (But I Do Not Think It Will End Well for Them)," Meditations in an Emergency, 16 Feb 2025

Solnit recommends these books: