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Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Thursday, April 03, 2025

"ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude all recommend the same 'nonsense' tariff calculation."

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Donald Trump recently announced a sweeping new tariff system that has drawn widespread criticism for its methodology and potential economic impact. The tariffs impose a baseline 10% tax on all imports, with additional rates for specific countries, such as 34% on China, 46% on Vietnam, and 20% on the European Union. Critics have labeled these tariffs as "short-sighted" and lacking a logical foundation, comparing them to policies from the Great Depression era.

Observers noted that the formula used to calculate the tariffs appears to be overly simplistic and potentially influenced by AI chatbots. Economists reverse-engineered the calculations and found they mirrored suggestions made by chatbots like Grok and Claude, which proposed halving the trade deficit-to-export ratio to determine tariff rates. While the White House denied relying on AI for these calculations, the official formula it released includes constants that appear to have no meaningful effect on the outcomes.

The tariffs are expected to disrupt global supply chains and significantly raise consumer prices in the U.S., particularly for goods like electronics, clothing, and food. Despite claims that these measures will boost domestic manufacturing, critics argue that many of the targeted imports cannot realistically be produced in the U.S., either due to resource limitations or economic inefficiency. The announcement has also sparked confusion, as some targeted territories are uninhabited or already maintain trade surpluses with the U.S.

Overall, the tariffs have been criticized for their lack of economic coherence and their reliance on a calculation method that some believe was inspired by rudimentary AI suggestions.

Citations: [1] https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/trump-tariffs-ai-math-penguins.html [2] https://www.theverge.com/news/642240/trump-tariffs-imports-apple-manufacturing [3] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/trump-tariffs-live-updates-stock-market-trade-war.html [4] https://gizmodo.com/did-trump-use-chatgpt-to-determine-disastrous-new-tariffs-2000584894 [5] https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/27/24353388/trump-tariffs-chips-act-ai-deepseek [6] https://politicalwire.com/2025/04/03/trumps-tariff-math-likely-came-from-an-ai-chatbot/ [7] https://www.theverge.com/news/642601/donald-trump-tariffs-de-minimis-shein-temu [8] https://www.theverge.com/tech/607947/donald-trump-tariffs-china-mexico-canada-explainer [9] https://www.theverge.com/news/641752/tra [10] https://altana.ai/resources/verge-decoder-podcast

Comments

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The similarities are incredibly stark. If true, this explains a ton.

#1 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2025-04-03 05:53 PM | Reply

------- idiot will get us all killed.

#2 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-04-03 06:02 PM | Reply

As I posted earlier, the US Ambassadors to the affected countries will be asked whether Trumpf is also a ketamine addict or if this idiotic list was AI generated. Voila!

#3 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-04-03 06:27 PM | Reply

"How much will tariffs raise prices?

Trump's economists just revealed their answer

Trump claimed that these "reciprocal" tariffs reflect how other countries already tax American products. "That means they do it to us and we do it to them," he said. "Very simple."

That is not true. These are not reciprocal tariffs. They do not correspond to the tariff rates in other countries.

The truth behind where these tariffs came from is far more interesting."

www.npr.org

#4 | Posted by Corky at 2025-04-03 06:38 PM | Reply

... "ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude all recommend the same 'nonsense' tariff calculation." ...

Did you really think that Pres Trump would think for himself on this matter?

I mean, really.

Why do you think he seems to keep Mr Musk so close to him?

#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-04-03 09:21 PM | Reply

I use AI a lot both for work and for posting on most august sites like the DR. I would never consider using it for actual policy decisions if I were in power. This is absolutely nuts. Even if it's not true, it just goes to show how delirious Trump is to implement such policies.

#6 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2025-04-03 10:05 PM | Reply

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