{"id":11058,"date":"2025-05-14T19:15:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T11:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=11058"},"modified":"2025-05-14T19:15:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T11:15:35","slug":"trumps-trade-war-against-china-has-totally-backfired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=11058","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s trade war against China has totally backfired"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chinese group chat and microblogging apps like Weibo and QQ are usually filled with videos of popular social media influencers and the latest trending memes. That wasn\u2019t the case earlier this week, when all the chatter focused on President Trump\u2019s surprise decision to abandon his failed trade war with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent and grinding trade to a near halt, Trump announced on Monday that he was lowering tariffs back to 30 percent while the two nations figure out a date for a future meeting. Chinese President Xi Jinping never did satisfy Trump\u2019s macho demand for a phone call. Trump blinked anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tone shift in China\u2019s social media conversation was brief, but it was a clear indication that Trump\u2019s trade war is a hot topic among the Chinese public in a way that his first-term trade war wasn\u2019t. His failure to extract any concessions from China is now a potent and highly visible symbol of American weakness. If Trump backs down so easily, our Pacific allies wonder, what good is an American alliance at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, Democratic and Republican secretaries of State have pursued an active role in the Pacific as a means to counter China\u2019s efforts to politically and economically dominate the region. Trump\u2019s sudden backpedal undermines a core part of that work, and Xi didn\u2019t miss a beat in seizing the moment. In a speech less than a day after Trump paused China\u2019s tariffs, Xi outlined China\u2019s messaging strategy to other nations in unusually blunt language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBullying and tyranny will only lead to self-isolation,\u201d Xi said. \u201cThere are no winners in trade wars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hill’s Headlines | PM – May 13, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s rich coming from Xi, no stranger to using China\u2019s economic might as a weapon to pressure his neighbors into doing what he wants. But if many Asian leaders are aware of China\u2019s capacity for turning the economic screws on misbehaving nations, they also see that, between America and China, only America has repeatedly backed down when pressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they are weighing which superpower to upset, Trump\u2019s lack of resolve makes the calculus easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear, though: Trade wars and sky-high tariffs are bad. They make little economic sense and, as we\u2019ve seen, mainly produce economic chaos at home. Trump\u2019s quick surrender, however, has also sent a clear message to foreign capitals that the White House doesn\u2019t have the grit to finish the fights it starts. For European countries considering whether to negotiate with Trump on tariffs, his weakness to Chinese pressure will certainly harden the EU\u2019s resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony of all that chaos is that Trump\u2019s trade war has actually left America less influential on the global stage. The Southeast Asian countries that were for decades the centerpiece of American foreign policy in the Pacific are now abandoning the United States at an alarming pace. In our place, those nations are forming new security and economic agreements that exclude America from the conversation entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, once a close American partner, hinted this week that Trump\u2019s economic protectionism and unreliability could force the 10-state body to go its own way on trade policy. China, Japan and North Korea also signed on to ASEAN\u2019s warning, a not-so-subtle reminder to America that our Pacific allies could easily turn to other, much closer economic powers if Trump\u2019s demands become too burdensome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It only took Trump a few short months to dismantle decades of valuable work in the Pacific while also offering Xi and the Chinese Communist Party a free assist in undermining American influence. It would have been bad enough if the damage from Trump\u2019s trade chaos was limited to pushing the U.S. economy into a near-certain recession. Instead, he now threatens to give China an even stronger hand in undermining American foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GOP might not feel it yet, but Trump\u2019s mounting losses come at a heavy cost for our country and for the world. Trump and the Republicans who enable him are failing our country by handing Xi and his party easy propaganda victories that make it harder to align the world against Chinese illiberalism. Do they even recognize the problem?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chinese group chat and microblogging apps like Weibo and QQ are usually filled with videos of popular social media influencers and the latest trending memes. That wasn\u2019t the case earlier this week, when all the chatter focused on President Trump\u2019s surprise decision to abandon his failed trade war with China. 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