US media: Trump personally selected the tariff calculation formula, and the final decision was made three hours before the official announcement

According to the Washington Post, after Trump became president of the United States, the administration's economic staff set out on a daunting task: fixing tariff rates for dozens of countries in order to fulfill his campaign promise to erect "reciprocal" trade barriers. After weeks of work, aides to several government entities developed a list of options that covered multiple ways to practice trade. Trump, however, personally chose a formula based on two simple variables. It's unclear who proposed the option, but it bears some striking similarities to the approach published by Navarro, a hard-line economic adviser during Trump's first administration, sources said. The crude calculation was derided by economists on Wednesday when markets fell sharply after the tariff measures were published. After discussions late Tuesday night, Mr. Trump did not decide on a final plan until about 1 p.m. Wednesday - less than three hours before his Rose Garden announcement, the report said.