Data Visualization "Before n' After" - President Trump Liberation Day Announcement

President Donald Trump caused a stir on April 2nd, his so-called Liberation Day, announcing reciprocal tariffs.

While there were huge debates about the calculation method used to come up with tariff rates, whether tariffs will derail global trade, and so on - this post is not about any of that.

While everyone was busy discussing the impacts of tariffs, I noticed another element that no one was talking about…

The president was using a form of data visualization by showing a cardboard table!

While the idea commended kudos for trying to simplify a complex topic with a table, the execution fell a bit short, which likely caused more questions than answers afterwards:

• No clear/defined sorting order

• Hard to quickly find a country of interest in the list

• Unclear if the tariff rate is final, or additive on existing tariff rates

This time I avoided making any major changes intentionally, to show just how a few minor changes and notes can clarify the key message and allow the reader to digest it in a much more efficient manner.