When it comes to the current economic conflict with China, I don’t think President Trump and his advisors really have much of a clue. Consider this remark by Stephen Moore:
“We’re learning that maybe China has a higher pain threshold than we thought here,” said Stephen Moore, who was an economic adviser to Trump during the 2016 election and remains close to the White House. “They don’t seem to care that this is having extreme negative effects on their economy. It’s kind of a mutually assured destruction game right now.” [WaPo]
Implicit in Moore’s remark is that this is a simple trade dispute. He doesn’t seem to be conscious of the reality that the Chinese Communists are playing for survival and even dominance.
Trump’s vast inexperience in foreign policy is working against him. He’s been banging the drum for more concessions, and that flies in the face of what the Chinese, or rather leader Xi Jinping, is likely to do, given his position as an autocrat who could be retired at any time.
But even more concerning is that Trump tends to be highly transactional, which is to say he treats the world as if it has no memory. But in the political world, things don’t work that way. Embarrass the Chinese, and even if Xi is removed as a result, the Chinese will remember who did that and may do it to them. It’s fine to make enemies of the Chinese, but you have to know what you’re doing, and Trump is clearly clueless.
