The Onion

((Washington DC) After a tense meeting with Monoco’s Minister of State Christophe Mirmand, the tension escalated when, in remarks to the media, trump declared 14% tariffs on the nation unless the Minister could guess the number he was thinking of.

“I told you, I said I was unhappy. I was unhappy. You don’t get to… unless you guess the number these are on, Christophe. They’re on,” the president said, in the newly paved rose garden area of the White House. “I am serious, just guess, you will never get it. Fourteen percent. Guess.”

After a moment of thought, the Minister, appointed by Monaco’s Prince as executive head of state, looked over at trump and said clearly in his microphone, “Fourteen.” A surprised trump confirmed the number was correct.

Economic forecasters welcome the new approach by the trump administration.

“The president issued a new tariff with a clear reason… that he was angry… gave conditions for the target country to end these tariffs, and when the conditions were met, by Minister Mirmand guessing the number, they were lifted. This is a very promising step forward by the administration.”

The outcome has been met by applause of other countries hit by US tariffs, with several requesting number guesses of their own, or perhaps a puzzle they could solve instead, or guessing which of his sons he loves the most. But some US government representatives feel this isn’t a good direction for policy to turn.

“Everyone knows who dad loves the most,” said one US government advisor who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “These questions distract from the reason we placed these tariffs, because the economy.”

No additional guesses had been offered by the president by newstime.