China’s Communist Chairman Xi Jinping delivered a prepared speech to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on Saturday and stayed far away from mentioning the challenge of a U.S. -vs- China trade reset.
Those who follow China’s historic patterns will note careful and intentional inferences within Chairman Xi’s remarks as shared by SCMP media:
[…] While the Belt and Road Initiative has faced an increasing international pushback amid fears it is saddling poorer countries with unsustainable debts, Xi’s speech steered clear of this and other sensitive topics.
Instead he praised the initiative for helping to improve international ties, adding: “Our circle of friends is expanding.”
“Circle of friends” defined as those political suckers (selfish and corrupt political parasites willing to sell out their countries’ best interest) who accept the smiling panda face and completely ignore the cunning dragon behind the mask maneuvering to enslave the locals.
[…] Xi only made terse references to the country’s economy development, which is facing its biggest challenges in a decade as growth slows and concerns grow that the country will not be able to achieve its growth target of 6.5 per cent for this year.
Xi did not highlight any particular economic achievements over the past year and said only that next year the party would continue to promote stable economic development.[…] Looking ahead to the coming year, Xi reminded delegates of his three key policy priorities – fighting pollution, corruption and poverty – and said the year offered challenges and opportunities to build a “well-off society in an all-round way”.
2019 will mark the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and Xi told his audience they should make the strengthening of ideological and political guidance a priority. “Winning people’s hearts is the biggest political battle,” he said. “Consensus is the power for forging ahead.” (more)
The confrontation with China is the priority for President Trump. POTUS knows China is far more dependent on the U.S. than vice-versa.I have no doubt the Trump administration has strategic plans to leverage trade access to the U.S. market as part of a way they can destabilize Chairman Xi if needed.
Also, Xi knows this subtle and Trumpian angle is a much larger risk than readily appears at the surface.
Xi knows Trump knows; and Trump knows, Xi knows that Trump knows.
And so we dance…
President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask. The entire planet is focused on the dynamic of Chairman Xi and President Trump. Billions waged on tweets, coded messages, hints of smiles. Epic stuff.
In the multinational finance world this financial face-off is bigger than the all military world wars combined. This is legendary stuff here. Bigger than any legacy initiative ever fathomed by all Presidents in decades. Every nuance and inference is carefully reviewed by Wall Street’s ‘Big Club’ looking for any leverage to influence the outcome.
The funniest thing is Donald Trump doesn’t care about all that. He has the desired ‘America First’ outcome gamed out for decades: We finally win, China acquiesces.
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‘ punches Xi in the nose; as retaliation for decades of designed exploitation and globalist erosion of our manufacturing and industrial base. Diplomatically of course.
In 2019 the bamboo forest is in real risk of shrinking…
It may not be popular to keep pointing out, but this is the stuff President Trump really cares about. The Deep State, DC Swamp, Mueller, Comey, Michael Cohen, congressional hearings…. confrontations, resistance efforts…. and all that ‘spygate’ and surveillance stuff is way over there…. Something that is necessarily attended to, but in the larger scheme of things, far less important.
President Trump has fifty years of business skills in various predatory and adversarial financial deals. Leverage, or the ability to force an opponent to take an action that benefits your position, is the most valuable weapon in deals; business or politics the same is true.
Leverage and influence is extremely valuable and it’s not just against Democrats and the Never Trump alliance (ie. Sea Island group). President Trump is in a fight against multiple enemies from all sides, across all aisles and political alignments.
The declassification leverage is a weapon; an atomic hammer that strikes everyone in a 360° blast radius. President Trump is not going to waste it to remove a few political gnats.
And it is not limited to domestic adversaries. This leverage has a geopolitical value.
Think about geopolitical trade deals with Five-Eyes allies. Think about how President Trump may need an ally to take a position adverse to their preferred interests. The potential for declassification of intelligence documents showing complicit corruption within the U.K. and Australia could destroy politicians external to the U.S.
Think about an ally being asked to take a position on China (trade), Iran (sanctions), Russia (energy), etc. Movement on any of these geopolitical issues, and many more, can be tilted -in part- based on the threat of sunlight or declassification. Leverage is a tool.
Getting particular democrats to support the USMCA; what’s that worth?
Getting a southern border wall and sensible immigration law; what’s that worth?
What does President Trump value? What is important to him?
What part of the transactional relationship can be enhanced by leverage? Pro-tip: it’s not personal; it is not leverage to benefit Trump personally; he doesn’t care about that shallow stuff… his view of the horizon is much longer, much further; much more consequential.
It annoys the heck out of many people, me included, that Donald Trump is willing to absorb so much inbound fire, unnecessarily; which, by extension, means that his supporters are forced to absorb so much inbound and unnecessary fire; but he is.
What is President Trump’s primary objective? Save the U.S.A. through economics.
Economic security is national security.
I think much of our angst is because we look too short-term; and the media does a great job of convincing us President Trump is selfish. Perhaps they are correct. Perhaps I’m wrong; but I see this leverage issue as something Trump views as important – obviously; or he wouldn’t approach it that way.
Would President Trump trade a $500 billion per year positive benefit to the U.S. economy in exchange for never outlining the fraud against him?
Would President Trump accept new jobs for a million Americans in exchange for never outlining the 2016 fraud against him?
Yeah.
He would.
Without question.
And he wouldn’t care if it meant he could never win in 2020.
He ain’t a politician.
Optimal outcomes.
Piss you off?
Probably.
That’s Trump.
This massively consequential economic reset on a global scale is the primary reason Donald Trump finally decided to run for office. Everything else is less than:
