To pave a clear path towards a brighter tomorrow, President Donald Trump’s push for tariffs requires stronger backing from the White House team than what was evident in the recent release of “reciprocal tariff” measures. The unveiling of these tariffs on Wednesday fell short of the necessary support.

How bad did it get?

Well, Trump’s long list included a 10% tariff on the Heard and McDonald Islands — Australian territories inhabited only by penguins.

No, “Happy Feet” birds aren’t stealing America jobs.

Upon closer examination, it became apparent that the calculation for determining other nations’ tariffs on American goods was quite simplistic: it involved subtracting US exports from imports, dividing this figure by total imports, and then dividing by two. If the result was lower, a “reciprocal” US tariff of 10% was enforced.

Which has nothing to do with actual “reciprocal tariffs” — that is, with measuring the other country’s tariffs and non-tariff barriers to US goods.

For instance, Israel, which swiftly moved to eliminate its tariffs in response to Trump’s announcement, still ended up facing a 17% tariff rate. Similarly, Vietnam, despite significantly reducing its tariffs, found itself subjected to a high 46% tariff.

We’re not free-trade purists or doctrinaire free-marketeers; we’re up for any moves logically aimed at onshoring jobs and reviving US manufacturing (especially in industries crucial to national defense).

But this is just head-scratching: A trade imbalance doesn’t necessarily mean a country is “taking advantage” of us.

It would be better to target the tariffs to the specific industries that the president wishes to rebuild. 

Again: Families and businesses can prepare for some short-term pain.

Nobody’s suffering that much if Shein and the whole fast-fashion fad hit a brick wall.

Market chaos can be weathered, too.

But not long-term consumer, business and voter uncertainty.

We guess (hope) the White House A-Team is focused on the tax-cut fight, which will have larger and far more immediate economic payoff to working Americans than anything even a brilliant tariff policy can deliver.

If the tax cuts don’t get locked in soon, stagflation could even return to Biden levels — especially with tariff confusion leaving many businesses too confused to take bold, pro-growth risks.

And too much embarrassing chaos on the tariff front could derail the larger agenda, even as the Senate takes key votes to move the “big, beautiful bill” along.

The president needs to take stock of his overall team, and make sure they’re all working to land this plane and not crash it into the side of a fiscal mountain.

The midterm elections are just 19 months off. If the economy’s rolling along soon, they’ll go well for Republicans; if not, it’ll be “hail, Speaker Jeffries” and back to gridlock and stagnation.