President Trump Discusses China’s Cover-Up of Wuhan Virus – The Economic Consequences Will Now Increase

A visibly angered President Trump told Maria Bartiromo he “doesn’t want to talk to China right now” and expresses a more open opinion that we should just decouple from all economic attachment to China.  This is a seismic shift in tone toward Beijing.

All administration policy and economic influence is now targeted to remove Chinese manufacturing from the U.S. supply chain. President Trump and white house officials openly discussing a U.S. effort to decouple from China is a significant shift.

President Trump has been creating a dual position for several years; this is very unique because it is the same strategy used by China.  By expressing a panda face, yet concealing the underlying dragon, President Trump’s policy to China is a mirror of themselves.

Historic Chinese geopolitical policy, vis-a-vis their totalitarian control over political sentiment (action) and diplomacy through silence, is evident in the strategic use of the space between carefully chosen words, not just the words themselves.

Each time China takes aggressive action (red dragon) China projects a panda face through silence and non-response to opinion of that action;…. and 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.

First he got their attention with tariffs.  Then… On one hand President Trump has engaged in very public and friendly trade negotiations with China (panda approach); yet on the other hand, long before the Wuhan virus, Trump fractured their global supply chains, influenced the movement of industrial goods to alternate nations, and incentivized an exodus of manufacturing (dragon result).

It is specifically because he understands that Panda is a mask that President Trump messages warmth toward the Chinese people, and pours vociferous praise upon Xi Jinping, while simultaneously confronting the geopolitical doctrine of the Xi regime.

In essence Trump has mirrored the behavior of China while confronting their economic duplicity.

There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump has a very well thought out long-term strategy regarding China. In the background of his action there has always been a duality in position; in my opinion Trump was always preparing to fully disconnect from China.

As part of the careful withdrawal President Trump used strategic messaging toward the people of china very importantly.  Trump has, very publicly, complimented the friendship he feels toward President Xi Jinping; and praised Chairman Xi for his character, strength and purposeful leadership.

To build upon that projected and strategic message – President Trump seeded the background by appointing Ambassador Terry Branstad, a 30-year personal friend of President Xi Jinping.

To enhance and amplify the message – and broadcast cultural respect – President Trump used Mar-a-Lago as the venue for their first visit, not the White House.  And President Trump’s beautiful granddaughter, Arabella, sweetly serenaded the Chinese First Family twice in Mandarin Chinese song showing the utmost respect for the guests and later for the hosts.

All of this activity mirrors the duplicity of China.  However, from the November 2017 tour of Asia to the January 2020 China phase-1 trade deal, President Trump has been positioning, for an economic decoupling and a complete realignment of global trade and manufacturing.

After years of careful positioning while unwinding the economic dependency; and while warning U.S. multinationals to prepare themselves financially for a significant shift in position toward China; President Trump has now fully triggered the decoupling phase.

COVID-19 is the perfect global justification needed for the financial markets to remain stable and understand what comes next…

BLOOMBERG –  Five months and a global pandemic later, Lighthizer isn’t using words like integrated anymore about China. In an opinion piece in the New York Times late Monday, he casts new doubt about whether such economic symbiosis is actually the end the Trump administration is now seeking.

In the article, China isn’’t his only villain. The USTR likened the American capitalists who sought cheaper ways of production in places like China, Vietnam and Indonesia to a mass migration of rodents. Over the past few decades, those who weren’t egged on by Wall Street analysts and management consultants were “simply swept up by the herd mentality of their peers” — all to benefit shareholders rather than workers, he said.

“The era of reflexive offshoring is over, and with it the old overzealous emphasis on efficiency and the concomitant lack of concern for the jobs that were lost,” Lighthizer wrote. “After we have defeated this disease and reopened our economy, we cannot forget the hard lessons learned from this misguided experiment.”

What Lighthizer says matters, of course, because he’s the top trade policy voice in a Trump administration where some officials want to leverage the outbreak to go harder on China.

But perhaps even more important is the timing of Lighthizer’s pronouncement. His boss is unhappy with China for the damage the coronavirus is causing to the U.S. economy. (read more)