His Lowness has taken umbrage to the musings of the the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board in the past and this latest piece will send him on the warpath again, unless I miss my guess. As you’ve heard, TACO is the acronym which Wall Street financiers use to describe the *president* Trump Always Chickens Out. Nobody in finance is under any illusions about the vast chasm between what comes out of Trump’s mouth on any given day and what the reality of the situation is. Just this evening, before Trump went into the Kennedy Center performance of Les Miserables, he lied about the “$88 billion in tariffs” which has made it possible for Americans to now be “happy” and “wealthy.” That’s his version of dealing with China, here’s what the Journal has to say about that situation:
President Trump on Wednesday hailed the result of the latest trade talks with China as a great victory, but the best we can say is that it’s a truce that tilts in China’s direction.
If that’s not telling Trump he’s a liar without calling him a liar, will somebody show me a better example, please?
Details are few, but the countries appear to be resetting their trade relationship to where it was a few months ago before a tit-for-tat escalation. Mr. Trump had agreed to reduce tariffs on China to 30% (55% including those he imposed during his first term) from 145% while China dropped its tariffs on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%.
But Beijing continued to leverage its stranglehold on rare-earth minerals and magnets, which are used in fighter jets, medical lasers, drones, electric-vehicle engines and more. China’s export controls forced some auto makers to idle plants, slowed production of drones needed in Ukraine, and threatened U.S. manufacturing.
Beijing will ease its restrictions on rare-earth minerals and magnets for six months while the U.S. will relax its restrictions on the sale of jet engines and ethane to China. The U.S. will keep its export controls on advanced chips, which are a hindrance to Mr. Xi’s AI ambitions though some developers like DeepSeek are using work-arounds.
The Administration also agreed to rescind restrictions on Chinese student visas so the children of Communist Party officials can study at U.S. universities. Trump officials claimed the purpose of the visa restrictions was to protect national security, but they may have been a bargaining chip to get Beijing to back down on rare-earth minerals.
Trade wars are mutually destructive, though Mr. Trump’s export controls harmed American businesses as well as the Chinese. China relies on U.S. ethane, a byproduct of oil and natural gas production, for its petrochemical manufacturing. Because the U.S. has few other export markets, Mr. Trump’s embargo could have throttled domestic oil and gas production.
Mark this well, because this is another one of Trump’s specious talking points, that the United States — since he strolled back into Washington — is an energy powerhouse. He loves to brag about this because it sounds like a put down to green energy and a triumph over it — and therefore a triumph over the libs and woke thinking generally. The truth is what has been expressed here, that Trump manages to take whatever small advantage the U.S. has in any given sector and find a way to leverage it against us, while he’s reportedly doing some great “deal” that nobody else can make happen. And this is clear as glass to the rest of the world. That’s why America looks like a bunch of damn fools.
U.S. manufacturers will no doubt welcome the rare-earth mineral reprieve, but China is keeping the gun on the bargaining table by putting a six-month limit on export licenses. That means if trade tensions flare again, Mr. Xi can resort to the same threat.
What’s that you say? What happened to the $88 billion in tariff money, that was pouring into U.S. coffers? One can only assume that Trump figured he better make up a yuuuge lie, and maybe a Sir story to go along with it, to cover up the fact that he’s not only not putting one over on China, each time they talk, the United States’ position moves more solidly into stalemate — but one that tilts towards China, as the Board points out.
China first weaponized its dominance in rare-earth minerals in a conflict with Japan in 2010 involving the Senkaku Islands, but the U.S. and its allies were slow to develop alternatives. Will they now get the message?
Developing an alternative supply will take years and require cooperation with allies because the U.S. can’t produce and process all the rare earths it needs. Japan has pitched a rare-earths alliance as part of tariff negotiations, and the Administration would be wise to expand such a partnership with other allies.
This gets to the larger problem with Mr. Trump’s tariff strategy—that is, he doesn’t have one. His latest walk-back shows he can’t bully China as he tried to do in his first term. China has leverage of its own.
Bingo. Trump no more has a tariff strategy than he had an actual plan — viable or not — to deal with settling the war in Ukraine in the first 24 hours of his return to office.
A smarter trade strategy would be to work with allies as a united front to counter China’s predatory trade practices. Instead, Mr. Trump has used tariffs as an economic scatter-gun against friends as well as foes. This increases China’s leverage, and, like this week’s trade truce, that’s nothing to cheer about.
A five-year-old with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
When the pampered criminal toddler couldn’t pour piss out of a boot with the directions on the heel…well…international politics and trade is wayyyy beyond an idiot who looks directly at the sun during an eclipse. Since we are a hypocritical, stupid citizenry…he’s the perfect king…the King of the Perpetually Stupid. OK lemmings…the cliff is that away…and the King only charges a small fee before you leap to glory!