President Trump took all the ‘dragon slayers’ with him to Argentina likely anticipating a rapid Chinese evolution from Panda to Dragon.  Trump’s delegation selection sends exactly that message.  If cunning Chairman Xi exhibits wounded sensibilities, well, tough.
China deployed the panda mask for over a year in an effort to wait-out President Trump, fair enough; however, that strategy has a severe downside.
If lack of engagement is part of Beijing’s economic defense mechanism, ie. retaining the status quo,  you can expect President Trump to provoke the confrontation.
Does Xi feel rucky?

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China and the United States can reach a trade agreement at the G20 meeting in Argentina this week, the state-run China Daily newspaper said in an editorial on Friday, but Washington must be “fair minded” if it wants to defuse spiraling tensions.
“Beijing wants a deal, just as Washington does. And it is willing to cooperate with Washington in dealing with concerns about trade if they are fair-minded,” the paper said.

“Should there be any other aspirations, such as taking advantage of the trade spat to throttle Chinese growth, then an agreement is unlikely to be reached.”
World leaders started arriving on Thursday in Buenos Aires ahead of the gathering of the Group of 20, where global trade tensions, fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, are expected to dominate the agenda.  (read more)

There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump has a very well thought out long-term strategy regarding China. President Trump takes strategic messaging toward the people of China very importantly. President Trump has, very publicly, complimented the friendship he feels toward President Xi Jinping; and praises Chairman Xi for his character, strength and purposeful leadership. Trump knows how to play their panda/dragon games.
Each time China takes aggressive action (red dragon) China projects a panda face through silence and non-response to opinion of that action;…. and then the  action continues. The red dragon has a tendency to say one necessary thing publicly, while manipulating another necessary thing privately. The Art of War.
President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask. Chairman Xi and President Trump are scheduled for a dinner on Saturday night; their first face-to-face meeting in a year.
The entire planet is focused on the dynamic of Chairman Xi and President Trump.  Billions waged on the position of an eyebrow, or the hint of a smile.  Epic stuff.  In the multinational finance world this is bigger than the moon landing, world cup and Olympics combined.  Every nuance and inference to be reviewed in slow-mo replay by hedge-fund managers looking for any indication of hope.
The funniest thing is Donald Trump doesn’t care about all that.  He has the desired ‘America First’ outcome gamed out; POTUS is only looking to see which direction Xi is leaning.  From there Trump puts the instructions to the team (Mnuchin, Pompeo, Ross, Lighthizer and Navarro); yet even they don’t know the full plan, no-one does except President Trump… for a reason.
The Wall Street global financial crowd is on pins-and-needles hoping desperately the confrontation between China and the U.S. doesn’t escalate.
Meanwhile, blue-collar Main Street USA is hoping ‘bull-in-a-china-shop-Trump‘ shows up and punches Xi in the nose; diplomatically of course.

Peter Navarro, Trump’s hardline trade adviser, will attend the meeting between the leaders, a U.S. official told Reuters. Another official said Navarro’s addition was meant to send a message to China about the administration’s resolve on trade. Navarro has advocated a tough stance against Beijing. (more)


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