‘This is to Make America Great Again?’: Man exposes the backwards math of MAGA tariffs where U.S. companies pay 15% more than foreign rivals

President Trump has doubled down on using tariffs to stop American companies from foreign production. And it seems like it’s getting so severe that it’s foreign companies that are getting the advantage.

When Trump was getting inaugurated for his second term, there was a noticeable shift in business people’s reactions. Whereas in the first term they were openly critical of him for using his platform to champion things like an insurrection, the business community wanted to ensure they were in his good graces this time around. The tech business community was openly supporting him by contributing to his inauguration and even attending it. Well, the other shoe has dropped, and things are not looking good for them.

One of Trump’s shocking moves was to install tariffs on every country on Earth. Shocking not in the sense that nobody knew he would do that — but rather shocking in that nobody thought he would actually keep all of his ridiculous campaign promises. The great tariff promise was supposed to work in a new imaginary way that the Trump administration would ensure the foreign countries would pay for it. But now with that being exposed as a lie and deals being made and broken and revised, there’s even talk that this entire thing is a ruse by Trump to manipulate the stock market.

One of the countries that was mostly affected was China, who initially got a tariff of 125% until it got reworked down. But as negotiations are still ongoing, Apple was reportedly working on moving its manufacturing from China to neighboring India. But recently Trump made a statement that he would ensure the company gets its manufacturing back in the US — and if it won’t, he’ll slap a 25% tariff on them. The only issue here is that the company’s competing South Korean company, Samsung, only has a 10% tariff — which means this latest move would actually benefit a foreign company. This prompted X user Spencer Hakimiam to wisely ask, “This is to Make America Great Again?”

Just so I’m fully understanding.

If Apple makes an iPhone in India to sell in New York, it gets a 25% penalty charged.

But if Samsung makes a Galaxy in South Korea to sell in New York, it gets a 10% penalty charged?

So we’re giving a 15% price advantage to foreign companies?…

— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) May 23, 2025

Trump’s false promises and unrealistic goals seem to be catching up to him simply because his critics keep doing the math. Another one of his promises that was debunked and related to this entire tariff mess was when he claimed that another reason he champions the tariffs is because they will help him achieve his promise to remove income tax. Experts have since clarified that the tariffs are simply not enough to ensure that.

Trump’s pattern of turning on allies has been the norm for his second term. Another former ally that he’s recently raised tariffs on is the European Union, and he has stated that from 1st June they will incur a 50% tariff. Which is certainly being read as a geopolitical decision of him straying closer to being a Putin ally even as the Russian President keeps on ignoring his calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

There’s a romanticization of old-school protectionism within Trump’s circle, but the reality of the globalized economy simply doesn’t support that. You can’t make a single move that doesn’t affect another. And before anyone starts thinking that Samsung will greatly benefit from this Trump move — it’s a good time as any to remind you that Samsung depends on Apple as its biggest purchaser of its screens. So Trump has created an economic lose-lose situation. So much for the art of the deal.