Instead, the scaled tariff reciprocates against all of these tactics easily and effectively. When trade is balanced, tariffs go to zero (or to 10%, in the Trump version). It’s clean, it’s efficient, and it’s effective. Thus, Trump’s tariffs are reciprocal tariffs - but what they reciprocate against is unfair trade practice in generally, evidenced by an imbalance of trade, and not tariffs specifically. So there you have it. Far from being “extraordinary nonsense,” Trump’s trade policy is in fact a careful implementation of trade policies that have been developed and detailed at book-length. And it is based in part on work by thinkers that we’ve approvingly cited here at the blog, such as Ian Fletcher.