'What a joke': Trump tariff letter torn apart by vicious copy edit
Writer and social media commentator Brian Krassenstein offered up a scathing copy edit of Donald Trump's rambling letter to Japan's prime minister announcing increased tariffs in his ongoing trade war.
"What a joke," Krassenstein began on his X account. "The letter is 528 words long and has 20 grammatical errors. Here they all are."
Krassenstein's beef with the letter included a myriad of "unnecessary capitalizations," in typical Trumpian style, and the "overly dramatic" use of exclamation marks.
One sentence Krassenstein marked as particularly "clunky" reads:
"If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge. Please understand that these Tariffs are necessary to correct the many years of Japan’s Tariff, and Non Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers, causing these unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States. This Deficit is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!"
The Wall Street Journal offered up its own interpretation of the letter, complete with a guide deciphering the "Trumpisms."
The Journal highlighted the following paragraph, before offering a correction.
"Goods transshipped to evade a higher Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff," Trump wrote. "Please understand that the 25% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your Country."
The "WSJ read" on that paragraph stated, "This 25% rate is actually one percentage point higher than the 24% rate Trump in April said Japan would face."
The letter to Japan was just one of many published Monday on Trump's Truth Social announcing new tariff rates -- from 25% to 40% -- set to go into effect August 1.
The Trump administration has been roundly criticized for failing to make good on its promise to make "90 deals in 90 days." According to CNN, "The majority of those deals did not materialize, except for a handful of exceptions."