Trade economists were scratching their heads on Thursday at the formula used by the White House to measure trade imbalances and inflict punishment on all its global trading partners. Following Trump's trade philosophy, the formula takes a country's trade deficit with the US as evidence of unfairness.

Trade economists were scratching their heads on Thursday at the formula used by the White House to measure trade imbalances and inflict punishment on all its global trading partners. Following Trump's trade philosophy, the formula takes a country's trade deficit with the US as evidence of unfairness.

"These are not reciprocal tariffs in their true meaning," argues one associate professor of economics.