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Liberation Day is turning out to be a lot of fun already, and we’re not even to Noon yet! I
Liberation Day is turning out to be a lot of fun already, and we’re not even to Noon yet!
I just posted this report about Ontario’s Doug Ford folding like a cheap suit:
In that report, I had a rant about how badly the USA has been treated by the world for the last 50 years....
Fraud, waste and abuse is not just limited to the Federal Government, the entire world has been ripping us off!
I included an example of a Bank Executive stealing from his bank that I think really puts it all into perspective, and I'll repost that full report down below in case you missed it.
But now I want to advance the discussion and tell you why reciprocal tariffs are not actually reciprocal at all...and why that's really good news for the USA!
Below is a report comparing U.S. exports and imports with the top 20 countries by total trade volume with the U.S. in 2024, based on data available as of April 2, 2025. The table includes U.S. exports to each country, imports from each country, the trade balance (exports minus imports), and a hypothetical column showing the net revenue to the U.S. from applying a 25% reciprocal tariff on imports from each country, adjusted for the trade imbalance. All values are in billions of U.S. dollars and reflect goods trade data for the full year 2024, sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Census Bureau reports, particularly the "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, December and Annual 2024" release. Services trade is excluded to focus on goods, which dominate the trade deficit and are subject to tariffs.
The "top 20 countries" are ranked by total trade volume with the U.S. (exports + imports). The hypothetical 25% reciprocal tariff assumes the tariff is applied to all imports from each country, with no retaliation or changes in trade volume, and calculates net revenue as 25% of imports minus any loss from reduced U.S. exports if the country retaliates symmetrically (though retaliation is not modeled here for simplicity). A negative trade balance (deficit) increases net tariff revenue, while a positive balance (surplus) reduces it. Figures are rounded for clarity.
Country
U.S. Exports to Country ($B)
U.S. Imports from Country ($B)
Trade Balance ($B)
25% Reciprocal Tariff Net ($B)
Mexico
324.6
496.8
-172.2
124.2
Canada
349.1
413.0
-63.9
103.3
China
147.8
442.8
-295.0
110.7
Germany
73.0
157.8
-84.8
39.5
Japan
80.0
147.8
-67.8
37.0
South Korea
66.8
121.8
-55.0
30.5
Vietnam
12.8
135.8
-123.0
34.0
Taiwan
47.0
112.8
-65.8
28.2
India
43.8
96.8
-53.0
24.2
Ireland
16.0
103.0
-87.0
25.8
Italy
25.8
70.8
-45.0
17.7
Netherlands
81.0
25.5
+55.5
6.4
Switzerland
20.0
62.0
-42.0
15.5
United Kingdom
71.8
60.0
+11.8
15.0
France
42.0
58.0
-16.0
14.5
Malaysia
18.0
53.0
-35.0
13.3
Thailand
14.0
48.0
-34.0
12.0
Singapore
42.0
25.0
+17.0
6.3
Brazil
45.0
35.0
+10.0
8.8
Australia
35.0
17.0
+18.0
4.3
Key Observations:
Total U.S. Goods Trade in 2024: Exports totaled $2,088 billion, imports $3,288 billion, yielding a goods trade deficit of $1,200 billion.
Largest Deficits and Tariff Revenue: China (-$295B), Mexico (-$172.2B), and Vietnam (-$123B) offer the highest potential tariff revenue ($110.7B, $124.2B, and $34B, respectively) due to large import volumes.
Surpluses: Countries like Netherlands (+$55.5B), Australia (+$18B), and Singapore (+$17B) show U.S. export strength, yielding lower tariff revenue ($6.4B, $4.3B, $6.3B) since imports are smaller.
Hypothetical Total Revenue: Summing the tariff revenue column for these 20 countries yields approximately $635 billion annually, though this assumes no trade flow changes or retaliation, which is unrealistic in practice.
Read that last line again: in the scenario of reciprocal 25% tariffs with the Top 20 countries in the world, the USA wins BIG LEAGUE, you might say, to the tune of $635 billion annually! BOOM!
Allow me to make this ultra simple....
Say you owe me $1,000 and I charge you a 25% service fee on that loan.
Now image you owe me $1 and you say fine, I'm going to charge you a reciprocal 25% service fee on your loan since you charged me a fee! Nanny-nanny-boo-boo!
Who wins?
Yes, they are reciprocal 25% service fees, but the outcome is stark.
You have to pay me a $250 fee, resulting in $1,250 to me.
I have to pay you a $0.25 fee, resulting in $1.25 to you.
Now do you get it?
Folks, the world has been ripping us off for decades, and when President Trump told them the music was going to stop soon, all they did was go on TV and threaten us with reciprocal tariffs in response!
How dumb can you get?
It probably took all President Trump could muster to not laugh out loud, all the way to the bank!
That's exactly what he wanted!
He wanted reciprocal tariffs, and in perfect Art of the Deal fashion, he made the rest of the world actually push to put them in place!
They could have immediately dropped their tariffs on us, and gone to immediate free and open trade, but they didn't do that.
Airhead loudmouths like Doug Ford went on TV and threatened the USA: "You tariff Canada? We'll tariff the USA right back!"
And once again, game, set and match for President Trump. Checkmate.
It's what he wanted all along.
Scroll up and look at the Canada row on that chart above...."reciprocal" 25% tariffs between the USA and Canada put $103.3 billion right in the USA coffers!
And Doug Ford and all the Canadians walked right into the trap, hook, line and sinker!
It's just basic math....the USA imports far more into this country than we export. Countries around the world rely on importing their goods to the USA. Basically, we're their sugar daddy. And instead of saying thank you sugar daddy for buying all of our stuff, these countries treated us poorly. Treated us like crap!
Let's take another story fresh in the news....Ashley St. Claire who allegedly, reportedly had a baby with Elon Musk and Elon Musk allegedly, reportedly gave her $2.5 million, a $100,000 black Tesla SUV, and $250,000/month. I believe that would be your ultimate "sugar daddy".
Now, what do you do in that situation?
If you're smart, you stay quiet and let the gravy train go for as long as you can.
But that's not what "Cashley" did and it's not what the world has done to the USA. Instead of saying thank you and being as nice and accommodating as possible to keep the gravy train going, they decided to stick their finger in the eye of the USA and eventually someone like President Trump comes along and says "Game Over, thanks for playing."
And that, my friends, is Liberation Day.
Enjoy!
And in case you missed it, here was my earlier report:
It's Liberation Day in America!
Happy April 2nd, a day that will go down in history!
President Trump is doing what no other politician has had the guts to do ever, which is to simply make sure the rest of the world treats us fairly.
We export billions of dollars of aid all over the planet and what do we get in exchange?
Tariffs on our products.
We've been taken advantage of very badly for decades and it stops today.
President Trump is not taking revenge, he's setting up reciprocity! What a concept!
And already countries are caving, folding like cheap suits.
Israel caved a day before Liberation Day:
My mind is still blown that we've been sending them approximately $3 billion of aid each year for over 50 years and in exchange we got tariffs on our products into their country?
That really pisses me off.
Today though it's Canada.
Remember loud-mouth Ontario Premier Doug Ford?
Remember all the bluster he was talking all last month about how he was going to cripple the USA?
Here he is on CNBC with his tail between his legs saying they'd love to remove their unfair tariffs today if possible:
JUST IN: Canada says they will remove ALL tariffs if US does so too:
"Let's sit down and discuss this... We’d be willing to take those off tomorrow if he took all the tariffs off. We are not the problem. China is the problem… We don't want tariffs.,. We’re going to take these tariffs off in the next minute if he said he’s taking their tariffs off." — Ontario Premier Doug Ford
Backup video with captions added here:
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Let's sit down and discuss this because it's just going to hurt American jobs.
I can't stress it enough. And you know, again, he believes he's supporting Americans.
He said he was going to create jobs, create wealth, reduce inflation.
It's worked the total opposite.
But do you think it's fair that you have tariffs on a whole number of products?
That's right. And we'd be willing to take those off tomorrow if he took all the tariffs off.
We are not the problem, Andrew. Do you know what the problem is?
China's the problem.
And he's taking a blind eye to China as they continue to build their critical mineral mass.
We have all the critical minerals that our great neighbors need.
We have the energy that our great neighbors need.
I just want to go back for a moment.
If, in fact, you're prepared to take your tariffs off, why wouldn't you have that negotiation and that conversation now before any tariffs get put in place?
Well, we've had this conversation for over the last month.
We don't want tariffs. We have another sixty-five billion dollars' worth of tariffs to launch today.
That's the last thing we want to do because, it's just, again, it's going to hurt both countries.
It's going to hurt American workers. That's the last thing I want.
Anderman, take the other ones off—not the ones you're launching today, the ones that you already got.
You're saying you take all your tariffs off? I'm saying we will take them off.
That's right.
Why is that not—I guess my question is, why has all of that not already happened?
And does President Trump know that you'd be prepared to do that?
He knows, and Secretary Lepnick knows that we're willing to take these tariffs off, like, in the next minute if he said he's taking their tariffs off.
Let's look at the auto—
Sorry Doug, that's a little something we call "too little, too late".
In fact, I hope and pray that it's "too little, too late" for everyone, regardless of what they do at this point.
These countries have had 50 years to treat us fairly.
You don't get to abuse us for 50+ years then wait until literally the day tariffs go into place and then say "just joking about all of that, let's just take tariffs off both sides, no harm no foul, ok buddy?"
Sorry, life doesn't work like that.
You get one chance in life to do the right thing and that chance EXPIRES after you've been busted.
Let me put it to you in a simpler way....
Let's say your an Executive at a Bank and you start stealing from the bank, just a little bit every week. Theft. Fraud. Cheating the people who trust you. Over the years, the Bank gives you raises, puts you in charge of more responsibility. In turn, you steal more and more. 50 years go by and you've stolen millions upon millions over that time. You're living the good life at the expense of the bank and its shareholders. After 50 years, the Bank finally catches you and says they're going to press charges for 50 years of theft.
Now at this point, you say "Sorry Bank, I'll stop stealing now. Let's just call it all good, ok? No harm, no foul. I'll retire, you don't press charges, and we'll just say that squares us up because we're Even Stevens going forward, ok buddy?"
No one in their right mind would agree to that deal with the Bank Executive, but that's what the entire world is asking President Trump to do.
Sorry folks, the grift is over.
The USA piggy bank is CLOSED.
I hope President Trump leaves these tariffs in place and the External Revenue Service can get very rich!
Make America RICH Again!
Then close down the IRS.
This is what I voted for, how about you?