President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs — with that massive chart behind him — drew puzzled reactions initially. But the calculations were actually very simple

President Donald Trump introduced his “discounted reciprocal tariffs” on over 200 countries on April 2. Most countries receive a base tariff rate of 10%, but for countries receiving more, the rates were calculated by halving a rate he displayed as “tariffs charged to the U.S.A. including currency manipulation and trade barriers.”