US President Donald Trump on Easter Sunday issued a stern message to international trade partners, posting an eight-point list of alleged “non-tariff cheating” practices that he claimed could damage relations with the United States. Among the listed tactics were currency manipulation, government subsidies, counterfeiting, and transshipping to evade tariffs.
The post comes shortly after Trump announced a 90-day suspension of reciprocal tariffs for most US trade allies—excluding China. Speaking to reporters last Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump said discussions with Beijing were ongoing. “Yeah, we’re talking to China. I would say they have reached out a number of times,” he said.
Trump’s ‘non-tariff cheating’ list:
- Currency manipulation
- VATs which act as tariffs and
export subsidies - Dumping below cost
- Export subsidies and other government subsidies
- Protective agricultural standards (e.g., no genetically engineered corn in EU)
- Protective technical standards (Japan’s bowling ball test)
- Counterfeiting, piracy, and IP theft (over $1 trillion a year)
- Transshipping to evade tariffs
The 78-year-old has long criticised what he describes as imbalanced trade policies. In Sunday’s post, he also revived a controversial claim first made in 2018 about Japan’s so-called “bowling ball test” used to reject US-made vehicles.
“It’s the bowling ball test. They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car,” Trump said. “If the hood dents, the car doesn’t qualify. It’s horrible.”
While the White House previously described the remark as a joke, Trump’s decision to repeat it underscores his ongoing grievances over what he views as protectionist trade barriers against American goods.
