Author Gordon Chang told Newsmax on Tuesday that in light of increased trade rhetoric between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump, "China will continue to try to intimidate" the president.
Last week, Trump announced his much-anticipated reciprocal tariffs on more than 180 countries designed to reset global trade and return manufacturing to the United States.
China responded immediately and added a 34% import tax on all U.S. goods coming into the country. China has called the U.S. efforts to balance global trade "black mail" and has said it will "fight to the end." Chang said the subtext to Trump's reciporal tariffs is "I'm not going to back down."
"Now, President Trump, as the treasury secretary [Scott Bessent] says, he's holding all the cards because we're the bigger economy," Chang said during an appearance on Newsmax's "Newsline." "We're the trade deficit economy.
"But I think that Xi Jinping has configured the Chinese political system so that only the most hostile answers are considered acceptable. So it's very difficult for Xi Jinping to pick up the phone and start begging, which would be the economically rational thing for China to do at this moment."
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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