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|---|---|
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Donald Trump's Trade Standoff
00:02:22
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| Donald Trump wanted an end to currency manipulation. | |
| He wanted the Chinese to stop stealing American intellectual property when American companies were in China. | |
| He wanted to stop the forced transfers of tech and a whole bunch of other things, which is just China cheating. | |
| And they said, no, we can't do that. | |
| And why? | |
| It's a communist party. | |
| So I think that during that first term, Donald Trump understood what that industrial policy was about, right? | |
| They're not in the global system to play fair. | |
| They're not in the global system because they believe in balance of powers. | |
| They believe in dominating the system. | |
| I think it's important for us to realize this. | |
| He does not trust Xi Jinping. | |
| He does not trust the Chinese Communist Party. | |
| Well, I'm going to now read, this is the perfect moment to read the president's observation that you cataloged in your book through your interview with him. | |
| So this is what he said. | |
| And this is looking at that precise trade deal that you mentioned, right? | |
| He said, I think you have some very powerful forces in China. | |
| President Xi is a very smart and powerful man, but you have other forces that are strong. | |
| I saw it firsthand. | |
| He viewed my relationship with him and my position as president as very important. | |
| They were very embarrassed when they said this to us because this was like having a deal ready to be signed and the deal was virtually ready to be signed. | |
| And then they withdrew it. | |
| And I believe that they had some additional forces in China that did not want to. | |
| I have no doubt in my mind, but that deal didn't happen. | |
| So this is incredibly interesting because there was this agreement, verbal agreement from Xi, yet the deal was withdrawn. | |
| And then this sort of second highly watered down version of a deal came through. | |
| Well, Jan, I'm really glad you picked that out because I think it's a really important thing and really fascinating because it gives an insight into what Donald Trump not only thinks about Xi, but how Donald Trump is trying to position Xi. | |
| And look at where he is right now with the tariffs and look at what he's talking about. | |
| I mean, I mean, 100% tariffs. | |
| I mean, this is astonishing, right? | |
| So Donald Trump is actually fighting it and he understands what it means. | |
| Again, I'm certain that he understands what he's asking for is something that the Chinese Communist Party cannot do. | |