Instead of the usual Easter greetings, US President Donald Trump pushed the world into deep thought on Sunday. Issuing an 8-point ‘non-tariff cheating’ warning, he listed alleged practices of global trade partners that seek to destroy their relations with America.
He defined what constitutes ‘non-tariff cheating’ as:
“1. Currency Manipulation
2. VATs which act as tariffs and export subsidies
3. Dumping Below Cost
4. Export Subsidies and Other Govt Subsidies
5. Protective Agricultural Standards (eg, no genetically engineered corn in EU)
6. Protective Technical Standards (Japan’s bowling ball test)
7. Counterfeiting, Piracy and IP Theft (Over $1 trillion a year)
8. Transshipping to EVADE Tariffs!!!”
Trump’s Truth Social warning post comes as US-China trade negotiations hang in the balance. The US president remains optimistic that a tariff deal would be struck soon and has repeatedly insisted that talks are ongoing with China behind the scenes. Despite supposedly affirming Beijing has “reached out a number of times,” he kept mum when asked if he’d directly been in contact with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
JUST IN: President Trump lists what constitutes non-tariff cheating pic.twitter.com/kV0V25oe6P
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) April 20, 2025
Trump’s accusation of Japan’s ‘bowling ball test’ resurfaces in ‘non-tariff cheating’ list
These non-tariff offences that Donald Trump envisions as imbalances in trade relations and believes could destroy international partners’ ties with the US comes after the 90-day tariff pause announcement, excluding China. The 6th mention in the 8-point list, citing Japan’s “bowling ball test,” especially invites curiosity.
With this mention, Trump revisits an accusation he levelled against Japan in 2018. “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,” he said at the time, according to The Washington Post and CNN. “If the hood dents, the car doesn’t qualify. It’s horrible.”
Without going into further details, Trump sought to accuse Japan of using the so-called test to unfairly block American vehicle imports. Then-White House press secretary Sarah Sanders eventually said that Trump was only joking.
The president’s rhetoric on unfair trade practices is nothing novel. Even back then, Sanders asserted that Trump has been talking about it “for decades,” adding “Part of the reason he was elected was to end unfair trade practices and push for free, fair and reciprocal trade so American goods can compete in more foreign markets.”
She continued, “Obviously, he is joking about this particular test but it illustrates the creative ways some countries are able to keep American goods out of their markets.”