Trump making up numbers, you bold enough to challenge him?

When an important policy is implemented, the market will react. Trump's tariff policy caused the US stock market to plummet for two consecutive days, losing about $640 million (nearly 50 trillion Hong Kong dollars) in market value. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell publicly admitted that the tariff shock exceeded expectations, and Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, a well-known expert on international trade theory, even bluntly said that Trump was crazy. He pointed out that his tariff policy is not only a mistake in economic logic, but also likely to trigger a global trade war and cause far-reaching damage to the US and world economies.

Many people have pointed out that Trump's tariffs are similar to the tariff laws passed by the United States in 1930. The 1930 Act, which was notorious in the United States, was introduced in response to the Great Depression, but it caused an even greater economic crisis, a sharp contraction of American international trade, and an even worse Great Depression in the world.

There are two major differences between Trump's global tariff campaign and the 1930 tariff laws. First, the 1930 Tariff Act was a protectionist policy, raising tariffs on more than 20,000 imports, while Trump imposed so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on the world's trade rivals, regardless of what goods they had. Second, the Tariff Act of 1930 was passed by Congress; Trump, however, is on his own, Congress has no role at all, and Trump is doing whatever he wants.

Seeing Trump lightly holding a piece of cardboard at a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, saying that tariffs would be imposed on this country by 34% and tariffs on that country by 49%, many people sweated on their foreheads and couldn't help but worry about the return of the Great Depression.

Trump stressed that the tariffs are "reciprocal tariffs”, and he will impose the tariffs on imports into the United States the same level as the other countries impose on goods imported from the United States. However, the comments seen on the internet all believe that the data does not reflect the facts. Krugman bluntly said that the tariff data cited by Trump was grossly inaccurate. For example, he said, Trump claims that the European Union imposes 39 percent tariffs on American goods, but the actual average tax rate is only 1.7 percent. In addition, China's tariffs are exaggerated at 67 percent, but WTO data show an average tax rate of only 4.9 percent in 2024.

A financial reporter in the United States also found that Trump's tariff calculation was wrong. There is a free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea, but why is South Korea's tariff rate calculated at 50%? Naturally, he also noticed that the EU did not impose a 39% tariff on the United States at all, where did this figure come from?

Ocean

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MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Karina strengthened into a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday and could become a major storm this week, forecasters said. The cyclone's center was at far out sea and was not threatening land.

Karina had maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said, making it a Category 1 hurricane. A major hurricane is Category 3 or greater.

The storm was located about 820 miles (1,325 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and was moving and was moving northwest at 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour) a forecast path farther out into the Pacific.

While Karina was expected to stay well away from land, swells from the storm were likely to cause dangerous surf and rip current conditions along parts of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula, the hurricane center said.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Lowell was 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers) southeast of Hawaii, and it too posed no threat to land.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a below-average Atlantic hurricane season due to El Nino.

It predicted eight to 14 named storms, with three to six of them reaching hurricane strength and one to three intensifying to major hurricanes.

This satellite image released by NOAA shows Hurricane Karina strengthening off the southern tip of Baja California on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (NOAA via AP)

This satellite image released by NOAA shows Hurricane Karina strengthening off the southern tip of Baja California on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. (NOAA via AP)