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Fortune

Paolo Confino

Trump’s tariff formula ‘was rigged’ to get higher rates— and it used the wrong value for one of its variables, conservative think tank says

Donald Trump United States the White House AEI Fortune Derek Scissors Deficit USTR White House

Photo of Donald Trump (Credit: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg)

A conservative think tank found the White House measured retail price elasticity when it should have used import price elasticity. That mistake meant the tariff outputs were about four times higher than they should have been.

The formula the White House used to calculate its recent tariff is based on an error that roughly quadrupled the rates from what they should have been.

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