Overview

The FART Act is the acronym for the United States Fair and Reciprocal Trade Act, an alleged bill that would declare United States of America's separation from the World Trade Organization. After a draft of the bill was released, many online mocked the acronym, finding it indicative, according to them, of President Donald Trump's administration's shortsightedness due to their supposed ignorance to the bill's name being a synonym for flatulence.

Background

On July 1st, 2018, the news organization Axios^[1] reported that they had obtained a draft of a bill entitled "United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act" or the "FART Act." The bill would see the United States exiting the World Trade Organization and give President Trump the ability to raise U.S. tariffs at his discretion.

Developments

Online Reaction

Following the publication of the report, people online focused, almost exclusively, on the name of the bill, the FART act. Twitter ^[2] user @HelenKennedy tweeted, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the US FART Act. (This is why you don’t staff your White House with ridiculous amateurs.) #brownMandMs" The post (shown below) received more than 340 retweets and 700 likes in 24 hours.

Over the next 24 hours, more Twitter users shared the article and highlight the bill's name (example below, left). Others made specific jokes about the acronym. Twitter^[3] user @SethAMandel tweeted, "As an editor who writes some headlines at the NY Post can I just say I’m really psyched about the FART Act." The post (shown below, right) received more than 120 retweets and 750 likes in less than 24 hours.

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci tweeted,^[4] "WTO has its flaws, but the 'United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act,' aka the U.S. FART Act, stinks. American consumers pay for tariffs. Time to switch tactics." The post (shown below) received more than 190 retweets and 480 likes in 24 hours..

Redditor ^[5] PolarBearinParadise posted the report in the /r/politics subreddit. The post received more than 2,900 points (96% upvoted) and 265 comments.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the FART Act including, Business Insider,^[6] The Hill,^[7] Los Angeles Times,^[8] New York magazine^[9] and more.

Search Interest

External References