CHINA VERSUS TRUMP
It appears that a divided American, a hostile media, and never-ending attacks on President Trump are conveying the wrong message to our enemies, both foreign and domestic. A message that portrays President Trump as a caricature of a television reality star and not a serious leader.
China Gears Up to Weaponize Rare Earths in Trade War(Bloomberg) -- Beijing is gearing up to use its dominance of rare earths as a counter in its trade battle with Washington, according to a salvo of media reports in China that included hints from the state planning agency. Stocks of producers surged.
The U.S. shouldn’t underestimate China’s ability to fight the trade war, the People’s Daily, a flagship newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial Wednesday that used some historically significant language on the weight of China’s intent.
The newspaper’s commentary included a rare Chinese phrase that means “don’t say I didn’t warn you.” The specific wording was used by the paper in 1962 before China went to war with India, and “those familiar with Chinese diplomatic language know the weight of this phrase,” the Global Times, a newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, said in an article last April. It was also used before conflict broke out between China and Vietnam in 1979.
On rare earths specifically, the People’s Daily said it isn’t hard to answer the question whether China will use the elements as retaliation in the trade war. China is “seriously” considering restricting rare earth exports to the U.S. and may also implement other countermeasures, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, said in a tweet. An official at the National Development & Reform Commission told CCTV that people in the country won’t be happy to see products made with exported rare earths being used to suppress China’s development. Editorials in the Global Times and Shanghai Securities News took similar tacks in their Wednesday editions. [OCS: These are not independent news sources and are every bit as much the propaganda arm of the Red Chinese as Pravda is of Russia, and the New York Times is of the Democrat Party.] The nation’s producers have rallied hard in recent weeks on the view that rare earths could be an ace in the trade war. President Xi Jinping visited a plant earlier this month, accompanied by his chief trade negotiator with the U.S., fueling speculation that the strategic materials could be weaponized in China’s tit-for-tat with the U.S. Read more here. |
Bottom line…
Let us not forget that these tariffs are producing billions of dollars that are flowing into the U.S. Treasury. (What did you think happened to the tariff money?) And, it would be a bitch if President Trump used that money to protect our Southern Border with a barrier?
Trump may not understand the polite etiquette of the diplomat who breaks bread with our enemies … but he has negotiated with unions and mob bosses (really one and the same in the New York real estate construction market). But, more significantly, he is a counter-puncher willing to fight back and seems to care not one whit about what the opposition and their propaganda press are screaming.
We are so screwed, not because of Trump, but because of people like Schumer, Pelosi, Feinstein, Schiff, etc.
-- steve
“Nullius in verba.”-- take nobody's word for it!
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS