Reciprocal Tariffs: Why Donald Trump is being trolled for saying Hank Tough
American President Donald Trump recently celebrated Liberation Day on April 2nd, 2025, where he announced a range of reciprocal tariffs against the trade partners of the US. His actions were a part of his plan to bring back the manufacturing industry and jobs back to the States.
However, ever since the announcement of the tariffs, which vary from one country to another, the entire world has gone into a frenzy with most not appreciating the amount of tariffs they have faced. While China faces 54% tariffs, India has 26%, Japan 24%, EU 20% and so on. Not only are the countries upset with the Trump administration, but Americans themselves are not waving green flags for the tariffs. Many had taken to social media to share how this would make things costly in the US, reduce job opportunities and necessarily have a bad impact on the American economy.
Image credits: X/@LuxAlgo
A day later, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to encourage Americans about the ongoing situation with a now-deleted post that said: “GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANK TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!”
The intentional typographical error was a reference to the character Hank Schrader from the crime drama series “Breaking Bad”. The character is shown as a DEA agent who is tough and driven to bring down drug lords and crime.
While the President may have thought of it as a relatable analogy, people on social media are rather mad that he is not taking the impacts of tariffs on them seriously. Many are comparing his lack of attention to detail in the post to that of the economy.
Journalist Aaron Rupar took to X to react to Trump’s post, writing, “Trump: “HANK TOUGH!” (Who wants to tell him that today’s jobs numbers are from last month before his self-destructive tariffs were implemented … )”
“Hank Tough” is one of those made-up “big, strong men” that are always approaching Trump, with “tears in their eyes” as they say “Sir, thank you for…”, wrote another user on X.
“Trump crash your stonks and you didn’t have a stop loss or systematic trade plan to exit? Just “HANK TOUGH”” added another.
What are your views on Trump announcing reciprocal tariffs for various countries? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
