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Welcome to the official home and wonderful world of Pulitzer Prize Winning Political Cartoonist Michael P. Ramirez, daily editorial cartoonist for the Las Vegas Review Journal |
Trump’s yin and yang game with China
When Trump calls Xi his friend, markets should really be spooked Freddy Gray. August 24, 2019. THE SPECTATOR It should be obvious by now — but somehow isn’t. Whenever @realDonldTrump says something wild, you can bet the real Donald Trump is contemplating something sensible — and vice versa. Often the Commander-in-Chief does the opposite to what his social media handle has just said. Trump the Twitterer is the yin to Trump the President’s yang. One suspects the Chinese, who invented philosophical dualism, have figured this out by now. That might mean Beijing is less freaked by his latest outbursts than the markets, which are sliding. Coming into the G7 summit this weekend, Trump has been ramping up the trade war: his response to China’s latest tariff escalation. It’s been pretty spectacular even by the 45th presidency’s standards. The Treasury declared China a ‘currency manipulator’ — because, well, it is. Trump ‘ordered’ major American companies to find an ‘alternative to China’. On Twitter Trump called Xi an ‘enemy’ — only a few weeks after he called him ‘friend’. He also berated the Chinese for not stopping the flow of fentanyl — the dangerous opioid — into America, as they said they would. No military threats yet — but hey, it’s only Saturday morning. In Trump’s topsy-turvy mind, this all means one thing: he thinks trade peace is about to break out. He’s playing his New York realtor trick: ramp up problems to force a deal. This is Trump’s great game and always has been: the mystery is whether Beijing is playing along. Have they understood the art of his diplomatic deal? Twitter Trump began his stream of false conscience yesterday by saying: ‘My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?’. LOL! He then announced a 25 to 30 percent hike on $250 billion of Chinese goods and products, plus a 10 to 15 percent hike on the remaining $300 billion. ‘We don’t need China and, frankly, we’d be better off without them,’ he said. Ignore the noise and look at the timing. The president wrote those tweets on his way to Europe for the G7. Trump always escalates global tensions on his way to these summits. It’s a well-rehearsed routine by now. He wants to ratchet up anxiety among America’s trade allies — to threaten the global order with disorder — so that they in turn can pressure China. read more |
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