JAKARTA - The calculation of reciprocal tariffs announced by United States (US) President Donald Trump is in the spotlight, because it has hit a number of small countries in South Africa.

Economist and author of the book The Words of Wisdom, James Surowiecki, conducted reverse-engineering to find out the potential calculation of tariffs announced by President Trump. He found that the tariffs were generated from the value of the US trade deficit with the trading partner country, then dividing it by the country's total exports to the US.

The result is then divided by two, to find the discounted reciprocal tariff.

The White House has confirmed the calculation of the reciprocal tariff. But Politico said the White House's tariff calculation is a refined formula from Surowiecky's version.

In his personal X post, Surowiecky called the US tariff calculation a ‘bullshit policy.’

Speculation on social media even suggests that the US tariff formulation uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. Some parties even proved that a number of AI platforms such as Gemini and ChatGPT, produced formulations similar to the tariffs announced by President Trump.

Meanwhile, the White House denied allegations circulating on the X platform that the government used AI technology to formulate the tariffs.

Furthermore, the White House admitted that it is ready to disclose the calculation and formulation of tariffs, although the timing is not yet clear. (KR/LM)