People can’t believe Donald Trump’s letter to Prime Minister wasn’t written ‘by a fifth grader’

People have often said that Donald Trump writes and speaks like a child in elementary school. After he sent a recent letter to Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a lot of people joked that it looked like it was written by a ten-year-old.

In the letter, Trump told Japan that the U.S. was putting a 25% tax on Japanese goods and warned that if Japan responded with its own tariffs, things could get worse. This isn’t the first time he’s sent letters like this to other world leaders.

But what really caught people’s attention was how the letter was written. It wasn’t just the message—it was the style. Many said the tone and grammar made it seem like a school assignment rushed through by a kid who just wanted to finish quickly and go play.

For people in the UK, fifth grade in the U.S. is similar to Year 6, meaning we’re talking about the literacy level of a child in primary school. The letter was full of awkward grammar and odd capital letters that made it hard to read. Trump randomly capitalized words like “Tariff,” “Trade Deficit,” and even wrote “TRADE” in all caps, like he was yelling. One person said it was full of so many mistakes it wouldn’t pass a first-year English class.

Editors and journalists said the letter would give anyone in their profession a headache, and others joked that if a teacher received it, they’d send it back with a note asking the writer to stay after class. Someone else even said it was unfair to fifth graders to compare their writing to Trump’s.

People were also frustrated by the actual content of the letter, not just the way it was written. They felt the president didn’t really understand how international trade works, and that his decisions could hurt the economy. One person summed it up with just one word: “Christ.”

This isn’t new. Analysts looking at Trump’s speeches during the 2024 election found he usually spoke at the level of a fifth or sixth grader. While that might match the average reading level in the U.S., many people feel letters to world leaders should be more professional than social media posts.