An economist who discovered that his research was used in the calculations for Donald Trump's controversial 'Liberation Day' tariffs has slammed the policy.
Days ago, President Trump revealed his grand plans for achieving US economic independence, which involved a piling an obscene amount of tariffs on various countries around the world.
"Our taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years, but it is not going to happen any more," Trump claimed.
The tariffs mean that imported goods in the US will now be more expensive, which is a great way to boost purchases of domestic products, but frustrating for the average American looking to buy groceries and daily essentials.
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Not only that, but Trump's economic policy also had a negative impact on stock markets worldwide - so you can see why they're not popular.
Unfortunately for the Trump, things don't seem to be getting any better either, as the very economist whose work was used to calculate the tariffs has now called the government's work 'very wrong'.
Sharing his evaluation of the policy in a recent op-ed for The New York Times, Brent Neiman, economist and acting assistant secretary of the Treasury under Joe Biden, has revealed he was taken completely by surprise to learn the tariffs had been based off of research he'd worked on.
"How on earth did they calculate such huge rates," was Neiman's first reaction to the news, adding that foreign tariffs on US goods were 'nowhere near' the same level.
So you can imagine the absolute bewilderment Neiman felt the following day when he discovered that it was his research which had been used.
"They got it wrong. Very wrong. I disagree fundamentally with the government’s trade policy and approach," he said, going on to add that calculations made by himself and others suggest tariffs should be 'dramatically smaller'.
Neiman continued to lay out the severity of the government's misstep, noting that differences in resources and economic output from country to country mean that imbalances in trade can occur for a number of reasons.
In order to drive the point home, he referenced a quote from Nobel laureate Robert Solow, which reads: "I have a chronic deficit with my barber, who doesn't buy a darned thing from me."
So what would Neiman's next move for the government, should they be listening?
"I would strongly prefer that the policy and methodology be scrapped entirely," concluded the Oxford and Harvard educated economist.
Or at the very least 'divide it's results by four'.
Unfortunately for Neiman, and the rest of us, Trump seems to be standing firm on his tariff decision, despite pleas from uber-wealthy allies such as Elon Musk.
So what happens next? God only knows...
Brenna Cooper