Making a Deal With Iran Would Be a Catastrophic Mistake

posted by Alan Joseph Bauer at Townhall 

The Trump administration should drop the idea of making a deal with the mullahs.

Have you ever seen an all-star team with one dud player? Everyone on the team is tops except for this one guy, who could easily be replaced by one of the vendors selling beer in the stands. Maybe his last name is the same as that on the stadium, or the coach was fond of his father. Steve Witkoff is that guy for the new Trump administration. President Trump has assembled a solid team of secretaries working around the clock to advance the president’s agenda. Then there is Witkoff. His relationship with Qatar compromises him. He said that any agreement with Iran would allow for continued enrichment; then, he spun around and wrote the opposite. His assistant for hostage issues noted that the Hamas guys he met were regular guys, the kind you’d have over for Halal chicken wings. Witkoff has the hostage portfolio, as well as the file for Iran and the Russia-Ukraine peace. May God have mercy on the United States.

In the day when I signed many nondisclosure (NDA) agreements, one lawyer said something wise: if the other side is honest, you really don’t need an NDA; if they are a bunch of thieves, an NDA won’t help very much. The Iranian regime must be weakened to the point that the Iranian people can overthrow it. Whatever agreement they sign, they will not uphold, and no program will be able to detect their production of enriched uranium and weapons. The Nazis famously built planes and ships and trained troops outside of Germany to skirt the strict terms of the Versailles Treaty. The Iranians are no better than their signatures, and their signatures are worthless.

Yasir Arafat told his close advisers that he would not uphold anything in the Oslo Accords that he signed. So while Israel and the US expected Arafat to end terror and get incitement out of the schools, Arafat prepared his people for war against the Jews. The Oslo Accords were signed on the White House lawn in 1993, and the second intifada began in the Fall of 2000. Over a thousand Israelis were murdered, with over 10,000 injured. Arafat and others have said that Islam allows deception of the infidel if it advances Muslim interests. The Iranians will behave no differently.

If one looks at the Iranian regime, it has done enormous damage during the past 40 years, without any nuclear weapons available for use. It is the #1 supporter of terror, and the three H’s—Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis—could attack Israel and kill Jews only with Iranian funding, weapons, and training. Even if the nuclear deal worked, Iran is a problem for the stability of the Middle East and the world. Yes, the three H’s are highly weakened and may even be on their way out. But there are many other groups throughout the world that Iran funds to commit acts of terror or destabilize Western countries (like the pro-Hamas protests throughout the West). Hezbollah was almost out of business after the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Iranian billions, weapons, and advisers made Hezbollah a very formidable force when the 2023 war started.

Destruction of the nuclear sites would have little impact on Iranian society but would be a mortal blow to the regime. Israel’s last attack in Iran had IAF planes flying for hours in Iranian airspace. Destroying key locations would put an end to billions spent on nuclear dreams. Israel should also attack Kharg Island and end Iranian oil production. The price of oil should not be affected as Iranian oil only goes to the worst actors like China and Russia. The government must be weakened to the point that opposition forces can act to remove the Thugocracy.

Steve Witkoff is part of the Trump team but is coming into Iranian negotiations with the wrong approach and thinking. He wants to make a deal; Donald Trump made it clear that the Iranians only have two flavors of ice cream from which to choose: completely end their nuclear follies like Qaddafi or have their nuclear facilities destroyed in a very violent manner. The Iranians are dragging out negotiations to get a deal that leaves their nuclear ambitions intact. They should be given an ultimatum and pictures of war-fighting planes currently in the Israel and American arsenals. They want to sign a deal which they can ignore in order to get the few bombs they need to make an attack on Israel a possibility. Would a Witkoff deal address Iranian ballistic missile development?

Steve Witkoff is the wrong man for the hour. When one hears the moral clarity coming out of Marco Rubio’s mouth, he wonders how a Qatari fanboy could be running a critical part of America’s foreign policy. I am sure that he is a great businessman, but we need a solid diplomat/bully at this juncture, and Witkoff is not the guy. I am sure that he’s a great guy and would be wonderful to have over for kosher chicken wings. He should not be involved in the negotiations with Iran.

If a deal is struck, it will be a disaster for Israel. Israel will be prevented from attacking Iran while the latter will find ways to get around the agreement and whatever monitoring program is set up around it. The mullahs will still be in power, holding back their people, and funding terror around the globe. The Iranians need to be given two choices: give it all up with US destruction of all relevant facilities or a full-scale attack with destruction throughout the country. 48 hours. That’s it. We don’t need a real estate investor; we need a Patton.

Donald Trump has been exquisite in pushing forward his agenda. Steve Witkoff is the one blemish in the Trump team and his actions may lead to a disaster: Iran will secretly develop nuclear weapons with the Russians or North Koreans while Israel will be told to stand down from any future attack against the Islamist regime. Give Witkoff his gold Rolex and retire him. It’s time for a gunslinger talking to the Iranians: give up your nuclear dreams or watch your billions in nuclear facilities blown to smithereens.  

X22, And we Know, and more- April 20 ✝️

 

‘Born in the Right Body’: Why I share my detransition story

 

BY: Simon Amaya Price   IN: The College Fix   18 April 2025

OPINION: Many of my friends were butchered by surgeons and chemically castrated by pill-pushing doctors

I told my parents I was really a girl inside at 14. But three years later, at 17, I stopped transitioning, returned to living as my birth sex again, and adjusted my appearance accordingly.

Now 20, I am one of the few who has dared to speak publicly about my experience.

Today, as a gender apostate, I’m no stranger to hate comments, death threats, doxxing attempts, loss of professional opportunities, and harassment on the streets of my own home city of Boston.

I won’t be silenced. I testify across the country in support of bills about the dangers of child gender transition, together with the LGB Courage Coalition.

We are a group of like-minded lesbians, gays, and bisexuals from across the U.S. and Canada fighting against what we see as a modern form of conversion therapy. Our progress is at times slow, our victories hard won. But we all feel an obligation to speak up and protect children like we were.

As an undergrad, I was unable to escape this ideology: in every class, at the beginning of every semester, my professors at Berklee College of Music were required by school policy to ask every student what their pronouns were.

I, being the rather bone-headed individual I am, would often respond with “I think that’s a stupid question.” In history classes, gender non-conformity was filtered through the lens of gender ideology—every woman we learned about who would dress up in men’s clothes, for any reason, was said to be “non-binary” or “transgender,” thus enforcing strict gender roles.

Outside of class, one could seldom find a bulletin board without some mention of transgender or LGBTQ+ topics. It was everywhere.

When I tried to offer a different perspective last fall, my “Born in the Right Body: Desister and Detransitioner Awareness” event was canceled by Berklee. A transgender event was held in the same room. Across the small campus, posters were put up with instructions to students on how to get cross-sex hormones and surgeries.

This was not the first time I was “canceled” in my undergraduate career. At 16, I started my first year of college at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. In freshman seminar, the topic of affirmative action came up, and when it was my turn to speak I shared my honest thoughts on the subject: I don’t think affirmative action works, and I think it’s racist. Despite the oppression points garnered from my transgender identification at the time, my professor asked me to apologize to the class for this statement. I refused. I was unsurprised at the end of the semester to see that he gave me an F. Not for my work, but for my thoughts.

Following this, the social atmosphere there became hostile to me. I had to move dorms after receiving repeated threats of physical violence from a classmate who lived down the hall. Unsurprisingly, she was trans-identified and on testosterone, i.e. steroids. I had quite a number of trans-identified classmates.

When I had applied to the college, they stated on their website that about 70 percent of their students were LGBTQ+. In fact, my first week there was the first time I saw mastectomy scars, on a 16-year-old girl who had her breasts removed at 15.

My thoughts on affirmative action in part stemmed from my father’s recommendation of the book “Woke Racism” by John McWhorter, the most distinguished black alumnus of the same college. This book provided the first substantial counterpoint to the racial narrative I had been fed from a young age by the school system, the media, and books like “The New Jim Crow,” by Michelle Alexander.

This led to the rapid development of my critical thinking skills after spending years coasting along ideological narratives backed by social dynamics which incentivized conformity. The race issue was the first of a series of dominoes to fall, which led me to return to a more sensible, moderate, classical liberal view of the world, but most importantly to stop identifying as trans.

Since desisting, I have had a recurring nightmare, although increasingly infrequent, of waking up on an operating table, unable to move, and looking down at my mutilated body. While I was spared the harm of medicalization, many of my friends, and my girlfriend, a detransitioner were not. Many of my friends were butchered by surgeons and chemically castrated by pill-pushing doctors.

My generation is starting to wake up to the harms of not just the multi-billion dollar trans-medical industry, but to the entirety of the woke ideological complex. By our best estimates, there are tens of thousands of detransitioners in this country, and although most of them opt to stay silent, every week I see someone new raise their voice.

Adults failed us. They lied to us for our whole lives. They told us we were guilty of crimes that neither we nor our ancestors committed. Boys were taught that we were oppressors, and girls taught that they were eternal victims of patriarchy. And if we felt uncomfortable with the gendered narratives imposed upon us, then they said we were born in the wrong bodies.
Five years from now, lawmakers are going to have to look hundreds of angry, young, permanently harmed constituents in the eye and explain why they did not take action to ban these barbaric procedures.

Democrats like New Hampshire state Rep. Jonah Wheeler, my new friend, are starting to speak up for common-sense policies around these issues. He knows that not only do most Americans not support this, but most Democrats don’t either.

My classmates’ attempt to silence me failed utterly. I speak more now, because they showed me how important my voice is. I have spoken to peers my age from across the country—red states and blue states alike. They tell me stories of the collective guilt, incessant moralization, and ideological totalitarianism which pervaded their school experiences.

While we have seen action from the federal government, it will never be sufficient to remedy the grievances outlined in this article.

It is time for teachers, school administrators, parents, and perhaps most importantly, state legislators, to say to the children of our nation: you were all born in the right bodies, and you bear no guilt for the sins of others.

MORE: MIT provides ‘event response ambassadors’ for those upset by detransitioner awareness event

IMAGE CAPTIONS AND CREDITS: Shown is Simon Amaya Price / courtesy photos

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Time To Make Democrats Choke On A Big Dose Of Their Own Medicine

posted by Derek Hunter at Townhall 

It’s a good thing Rob O’Neil ventilated Osama bin Laden’s head and did not take him into custody, or else Democrats would be forming a conga line of stupidity to march into whatever prison he was being held in to demand his release. Not immediately, they’d wait until President Donald Trump expressed pride that the terrorist leader was no longer able to kill Americans, and that would be enough to set off the left, which has a policy of being against anything Trump supports, no matter how bad it makes them look. They’ll try to deny it, but we must ensure it is never forgotten and make them choke on what they’ve done and who they’ve become.

First off, people need to go to town halls Democrats are hosting across the country and publicly demand to know where these Democrats fall, with illegal alien gang members or with Americans?

More than that, since these illegal alien Democrats are now favoring every American, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, has been credibly accused of physically attacking his wife on multiple occasions, they need to be asked if they still “believe all women?" As I see it, there are only two options: Democrats are rallying to bring an illegal alien domestic abuser back to the country, or they are calling his “loving wife” a liar who filed a false police report, thereby necessitating the prosecution of her for that act. There is no third option.

Which is it?

They won’t answer that question because they likely won’t be asked it. Democrats only go on CNN and MSNBC; asking a question like that would get you fired.

The Supreme Court is siding with illegal aliens now. The court is lost, the “Justices” are not protecting the rights of Americans, they are siding with our enemies. Not only did I never think I’d see the day, but the concept of the day has seemed so foreign to me that contemplating it was impossible.

One user on X put it perfectly, “If a Democrat president can import 15-30 million immigrants each time they hold the White House…  But Republicans can’t deport them….  That’s it for this country. It’s over. Your ‘conservative principles’ are meaningless because they pertain to a dead entity.”

The “progressive” left used just to be wrong, misguided, or whatever you wanted to call it. That philosophy has become a cancer on the country to the point that the few remaining semi-sane Democrats are terrified to speak out against it. 

It doesn’t matter, the extremists are coming for them too, with the co-Chair of the DNC (formerly the co-Chairman, but they’ve wiped gender from everything) announcing he wants the party to fund challengers to Democrats who won’t obey the radicals. A purge – leftists love a good purge, just ask Stalin, Hitler, and Mao – is what they’re talking about. They aren’t calling for the deaths of their dissenting party members like their ideological forefathers did, but the road they are goosestepping down only leads one place, and it’s pretty awful.

If we don’t message better, and to everyone, to beat these progressive impulses before they seize power, it will get ugly, really ugly, trust me. Nothing good happens further down the road, nothing. 

These people need to be thrown out of office; it must be made clear that their ideas have no place in a civil society. They are welcome to leave the country along with the people they favor, but individual liberty is the guiding principle in the United States of America. We’ll happily help them pack, I’d even favor subsidizing moving them to whatever leftist Utopia they think they can go to or create, but their fascistic instincts will be squashed here. 

A big dose of their own medicine is long overdue, highlighting every dangerous aspect of their policies and turning everyone against them by any means necessary. 

They have turned against Americans and America. If no Democrat is willing to stand up inside their party, everyone must stand up to their party. If that ship can’t be righted, it needs to be sunk.

World’s Largest Virtual #Hallelujah Chorus

The Rioter Cell of the Democrat Party has been Activated

posted by Rajan Laad at American Thinker 

Since he entered politics, President Trump has been targeted with numerous Democrat powered “protests.” An entire Wikipedia page is dedicated to these "protests" in which Democrat-funded operatives rampage, resulting in harm to citizens and destruction of property. The Democrats provide legal support to the rioters, beginning with bailing them out if they are arrested. When Democrats riot, the mainstream media propagandists claim that they are exercising their rights as citizens, and even violence is whitewashed.

However, if Trump supporters protest against an unfair election, they are branded as insurrectionists, and the protestors are targeted by government agencies, the way that dissenters are targeted in totalitarian regimes.

There were no major protests or violence from the Democrats since Trump when re-elected last November.

In the Aeneid, set during the Trojan War, the Trojan priest, Laocoön, warns against the Trojan Horse gifted by the Greeks, with the famous words "Timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentēs", i.e., "I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts."

The display of Democrat restraint is aimed at deceiving the public into thinking that they accepted the vox populi and are open-minded about President Trump.  The plan is to claim that with the action, Trump went too far, hence they have no choice but to “protest.”

When DOGE began exposing government excesses, the Democrats thought they found their cause.

In February, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led a 'protest' demanding the revocation of Musk's access to Treasury Department databases. The 'protest' was powered by left-wing extremist bodies such as MoveOn Civic Action, Indivisible, and the Working Families Party. 

The Treasury Department responded that Musk has 'read-only' access to financial information, which is essential for DOGE's analysis and recommendations.

Compulsive attention seekers and 'socialists' Bernie Sanders and AOC launched their 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour the day Trump was elected, and they began 'rallies' in February.

Since March, Tesla dealerships have been targeted. The AP reported that the most violent attacks occurred in left-leaning cities such as Colorado, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. 

On April 5th, activists across the country protested during the Hands Off! movement that demanded the removal of Trump and Musk. This was powered by a consortium of left-wing groups, with MoveOn at the forefront. 

A few days back, Joe Biden tried to attack President Trump, but as always, had problems mustering words. He was ridiculed for using an anachronistic racist term.

None of these had any impact; Trump's approval ratings soared to new heights.

The latest Democrat ploy is to have their insurgents invade town halls led by GOP lawmakers. ABC News reported the following: 

"Many in Grassley's audience in Iowa expressed concerns over the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with court orders to facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison in El Salvador, arguing Grassley and Congress haven’t adequately provided checks and balances on the Trump administration, allowing him to defy court orders.

“You going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?” an audience member shouted.

“That’s not a power of Congress,” Grassley responded.

“El Salvador is an independent country… The president of that country is not subject to our U.S. Supreme Court,” he added later.

You could hear a loud groan from a woman before a man yelled, “I’m pissed!”

Another audience member asked, “We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about these people who have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country with no due process?”

Another attendee pressed Grassley on whether he would take action to ensure the United States better follows international law and upholds “the ideals of our country to be a place of hope for others.”

Bill O'Reilly revealed that the 'protestors' were organized by Lee County Democrat activists in Iowa.

Next was the town hall with Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene in a county won by Kamala Harris, where matters were much worse. When Green took the stage, a man attempting to charge at her was restrained and dragged out by police officers. Within moments, another individual shouted at Greene. Greene ordered him to leave, and he exited, trailed by an officer. Moments later, another man was tackled and dragged out by police. When he attempted to reenter, officers tased him. Many others engaged in similar behavior.

The Acworth Police Department stated that the disruptors "created an imminent public safety threat for all in attendance."   

Bill O'Reilly revealed that the insurgents were Democrat activists who were bailed out by the Cobb County Democrat committee.

So, how did the media report the Grassley and Green townhalls?

CNN covered it as "GOP Sen. Grassley faces frustrated Iowans at town hall." The NYT claimed that Grassley drew jeers from Iowans. Other Democrat propagandists such as the HuffPo, Newsweek, and NBC News also pushed the narrative of outraged Iowans confronting Grassley.

Taxpayer-funded NPR whitewashed the violence of Democrat insurgents and claimed that the protester who was stun-gunned. A few weeks back, during a hearing, Taylor Green had challenged public funding for NPR. The WSJ and the NYT also pushed the same narrative.

These Democrat-funded insurgents prevented genuine questions from voters at the town hall, which is ironic, since they claimed to be standing for Democracy.

So what does one make of this?

Georgians and Iowans must laud that their representatives are dedicating their Easter break to interact with voters. 

If the Democrats were astute, they would flood the town hall with questions about issues that affect regular people, such as the short-term impact of Trump's tariffs on the economy and the potential impact on citizens due to mistakes made by DOGE. 

Instead, they focused on international law, refugee rights, and anEl Salvadoran national, once accused of domestic violence and deported for being a member of the deadly MS-13 gang. The disruptors also pushed the Democrat narratives of a constitutional crisis. Hence, they inadvertently revealed they were Democrat apparatchiks deployed to hijack the town halls. 

The aim behind the display is to drive the perception that the public is rising against Trump and that Trump voters are suffering from buyer's remorse. 

This is merely the beginning. The 50501 organization, funded by the Left, has scheduled nationwide 'protests' on April 19.

Perhaps the pro-Trump media journalist can embark on a perilous mission to interview and expose these 'protestors', who are likely to be clueless about the issues, but turn up for free marijuana.

In the coming weeks, matters could get uglier, and Trump supporters and administration officials could be targeted.

Law enforcement must be empowered to do their job and protect innocent civilians, while the DoJ must ensure that suitable punishment is meted out to the rioters.

There is a silver lining to this ghastly display. The Democrat-led "protests" are proof that the Trump administration is on the right course. Since being inaugurated, Donald Trump has renegotiated fair trade deals with other nations, secured the U.S. border, deported illegal aliens, protected children from gender-altering procedures, brought back hostages from abroad and astronauts stranded in space, targeted gratuitous DEI initiatives, controlled inflation, boosted American energy independence, secured commitments to bring back manufacturing jobs to the U.S., drained the swamp, pursued peace, embarrassed Democrat governors, and much more.

Trump is defending American interests, and this is what enrages Democrats.

CCP Deploys Playbook to Prolong Trade War, Experts Say

 Beijing has already employed various familiar tactics from its playbook to retaliate against the United States, including spreading anti-American propaganda.

WASHINGTON—As the trade war between the United States and China intensifies, Beijing seems ready to use any means necessary to prolong the fight rather than concede.

Many in Washington argue that sustained high tariffs could ultimately end the trade relationship between the two countries and accelerate long-desired decoupling from China. Losing access to a large U.S. market would also significantly strain the Chinese economy.

Communist China’s rise since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 has been mainly fueled by controversial trade policies, which include stealing intellectual property, attacking foreign firms operating in the country, and massively subsidizing domestic companies. Hence, Beijing is determined to maintain these mercantilist trade practices, according to Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a science and technology think tank.

Even if Beijing comes to the negotiation table, it’s unwilling to bargain on these core problems that the U.S. government wants resolved, Atkinson told The Epoch Times.

“They’ve never been willing to even acknowledge that these are problems,” he said, adding that Beijing is willing to take trade war casualties at a dramatically higher rate than the United States is.

As of April 15, U.S. tariffs on many Chinese imports stand at 145 percent, while Chinese levies on U.S. goods are at 125 percent.

U.S. President Donald Trump has already signaled that he is willing to lower or pause tariffs if China agrees to negotiations. His offer was met with a public refusal from Beijing.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has already employed various tactics from its playbook to retaliate against the United States. These include spreading anti-American propaganda, pressuring U.S. corporations to lobby on behalf of the regime, and limiting shipments of rare earth materials.

Circulating Propaganda Videos

For years, the CCP has used propaganda to influence public opinion both domestically and internationally. It’s now deploying the same tactic to shape public perception about Trump’s tariffs.

According to “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, the CCP’s latest trick involves a wave of TikTok videos that mock Americans and were generated with artificial intelligence (AI).

“TikTok is weapons-grade spyware, period,” O’Leary told lawmakers during a congressional hearing on April 9 about the CCP’s financial aggression.

“It’s one of the best propaganda machines I’ve ever seen,” he said of TikTok. “If you want evidence of it, go on in the last 24 hours and look at the videos generated there through AI of overweight Americans at sewing machines.”

He said that the CCP is behind these videos, which began circulating shortly after Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement. The AI-generated clips show overweight Americans hunched over sewing machines, scenes of Trump and his Republican allies slowly stitching fabric, and billionaire Elon Musk assembling iPhones on an assembly line. These videos end with Trump’s famous campaign message, “Make America Great Again.”

“I have never seen such blatant propaganda,” O’Leary said of recent videos, warning that Beijing also uses platforms such as TikTok to shape public opinion in the United States.

In January, O’Leary announced that he had placed a bid to acquire TikTok from its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance. On April 4, Trump extended the deadline for the social media platform to break away from ByteDance by 75 days to avoid a ban in the United States.

The White House on April 15 responded to these viral videos, some of which were posted by Chinese government officials.

“I’m not sure who made the videos, or if we can verify the authenticity,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a news briefing. “Whoever made it clearly does not see the potential of the American worker, the American workforce.”

Pressuring American Companies

The Chinese regime also uses a familiar playbook: pressuring American companies to act as intermediaries.

On April 6, Ji Ling, Chinese vice minister of commerce, held a roundtable meeting with representatives from U.S. companies, including Tesla and GE HealthCare. During this meeting, Ji issued a subtle warning, urging U.S. firms to support efforts to influence Washington or face consequences such as retaliatory tariffs and export restrictions.

Ji told representatives of nearly 20 companies that U.S. tariffs violate international trade rules and harm the interests of all other nations.

This tactic isn’t new. During the 2023 APEC summit in San Francisco, Chinese leader Xi Jinping attended a private dinner with top U.S. executives to promote investment in China. The meeting occurred after the Biden administration prohibited some new U.S. investment in China in sensitive technologies.

Some speculated over the weekend that Trump has conceded to the demands of technology companies by providing some exemptions to Chinese-made smartphones and other electronics after the Trump administration exempted electronics from the reciprocal tariff of 125 percent.

Trump denied those claims, stating that nobody was getting “off the hook” for unfair trade balances and tariff barriers. He said these products would be covered by a different tariff plan and continue to face the 20 percent tariffs previously imposed because of fentanyl exports from China.

For decades, the CCP has been pressuring foreign companies operating in China. The regime is expected to intensify these pressures in response to the new U.S. tariffs.

“They'll probably continue to punish American firms with bogus antitrust suits,” Atkinson said.

The U.S. trade representative has warned for years that the Chinese regime is using protectionist and trade-distorting policies aimed at weakening foreign companies operating in China. For example, it forces companies to relocate their production, research and development, and data storage to the country.

It also forces foreign companies to partner with domestic firms and hand over their technology and know-how. Global brands are being forced to give away their most important and sensitive technologies to have access to Chinese markets.

Restricting Rare Earth Exports

In response to U.S. tariffs, Beijing has introduced export restrictions on critical rare earth elements, metals, and magnets effective April 4.

China dominates global rare earths supply chains, accounting for nearly 60 percent of worldwide production and almost 85 percent of processing capacity. The CCP has turned that dominance into a strategic weapon against other countries in recent years.

“That’s a pretty serious vulnerability,” Atkinson said, noting that Beijing will play this card during the trade war against the United States.

In its latest move, Beijing has imposed controls on seven categories of rare earths, a decision that will affect defense manufacturers and the automotive and aerospace industries, according to Joshua Ballard, CEO of USA Rare Earth, a supplier of critical rare earth magnets.

“In short, China does not need to increase tariffs to push back in this trade war,” Ballard said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, adding that these export restrictions serve as a powerful leverage point over the U.S. economy.

He noted that the United States depends entirely on China for magnets, and under new rules, companies need special export licenses to ship them out.

“The U.S. government needs to surge support to the rare earth industry domestically to ensure our supply chain is built as quickly as possible,” Ballard said.

The move follows China’s export ban on three critical minerals—antimony, gallium, and germanium—initiated in December 2024 in response to former President Joe Biden’s technology restrictions on China.

Launching an International Charm Offensive

Xi is on a Southeast Asia tour this week, visiting Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia as he seeks to promote China as a stable trading partner.

While in Hanoi, Xi called for stronger ties with Vietnam and urged the country to resist “unilateral bullying.”

“I think really the big thing the Chinese are going to do, which is the biggest way they can hurt us, is to form alliances with our allies,” Atkinson said.

Beijing has also mounted a charm offensive in recent months to strengthen ties with Europe.

On April 11, Xi hosted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Beijing and told him that there could be “no winners” in any trade war. During the meeting, he urged China and the European Union to join forces to protect globalization.

In a recent post on social media platform X, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said China and Europe account for one-third of the global economy and are champions of free and fair trade.

However, it’s unclear how the EU, which has accused China of being a key enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine, will react to Beijing’s charm offensive.

In October 2024, the EU also increased tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles (EVs) to as much as 45.3 percent, after accusing China of dumping cheap, government-subsidized EVs on its market.

Many Republicans are confident that China, not the United States, will be isolated during this trade war.

“I think over the long haul, China will be shooting itself in the foot if they continue these unfair trade practices, so we’re really in the driver’s seat on this,” Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) told The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet NTD. “They will be isolated, not us.”

According to Christopher Balding, senior fellow at UK-based think tank the Henry Jackson Society, high tariffs will “bring U.S.–China trade to an absolute halt.”

“Trump wants to push a very deep, ongoing decoupling from China,” Balding told Jan Jekielek, host of Epoch TV’s “American Thought Leaders.”

“I think he wants to promote that decoupling, not just with China, but with, let’s say, drawing at least a secondary moat around near allies like Mexico, Canada, parts of Europe, Japan, and South Korea.”

Currency Manipulation

In response to new tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing is likely to again rely heavily on currency depreciation to ease the economic impact of the levies.

China has long used currency manipulation as a key strategy to boost its exports. By weakening the yuan against the U.S. dollar, Beijing makes Chinese goods cheaper and more attractive on the global market.

In addition to China, the U.S. Treasury Department has placed several trading partners on its Monitoring List for currency manipulation, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Germany.

“Lots of countries basically artificially depress their currency in order to run these mercantilist trade policies,” Balding said.

He said that China’s huge trade surplus suggests that the country has engaged in severe currency manipulation.

During Trump’s first term, Chinese exporters were unable to pass on the cost of U.S. tariffs to consumers as they were aware that doing so could cost them access to the U.S. market. To absorb the hefty U.S. tariffs, Beijing used currency manipulation, subsidies, and other methods to help its products remain competitive in the U.S. market.

A 2023 analysis by the U.S. International Trade Commission concluded that Section 232 and 301 tariffs on more than $300 billion of U.S. imports had little impact on U.S. inflation. The study found that the tariffs led to a decline in imports from China and an increase in domestic production, while causing only minor changes in prices.

Market observers such as Balding have said that Beijing may be unable to devalue the yuan aggressively at this time to offset the impact of higher U.S. tariffs.

Massive Subsidies

China offers its companies a wide range of subsidies, from direct grants and tax breaks to low-cost financing, land, energy, and other essential inputs.

While these subsidies are also common in other countries, the scale of Beijing’s support through these methods is significantly larger in scale than international norms, Rhodium Group says in a recent report.

“China’s practices are also difficult to track. Local governments play a key role in disbursing grants and tax incentives and China is unwilling to share details about them,” the report reads.

In addition, it said, “China’s use of below-market borrowing and equity is much more pervasive than in other economies.”

This is largely driven by state ownership in China’s banking system and widespread state investment in companies, according to the report.

In addition, the CCP owns a minority share in a growing number of private companies, which is called “golden share.”

These shares, typically equivalent to 1 percent, allow the CCP to have a seat on the board, voting power, and influence over corporate decisions.

Aside from subsidies, China has used cheap labor to outcompete other countries.

Despite China’s rapid economic growth over the past three decades, a large portion of the population remains poor because of the highly unequal distribution of wealth.

China Labour Bulletin’s 2024 labor data reveal a continued disregard for workers’ rights by employers, companies, and the regime, including issues such as excessive working hours, wage withholding, and widespread labor rights violations. China Labour Bulletin is a Hong Kong-based nongovernmental organization that advocates for workers’ rights in China.

Transshipments

When Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first term, U.S. companies didn’t massively reshore production—they instead shifted supply chains to countries like Mexico and Vietnam. As a result, trade volumes from China to those countries increased, Balding said.

While academic and policy research studies suggest most of the goods exported from Mexico and Vietnam to the United States were produced by local firms, there was also a rise in transshipment.

This practice involves Chinese goods being minimally altered or simply relabeled in Mexico or Vietnam before being sent to the United States.

Trump is now aiming to close these loopholes with new tariffs and has publicly called on Mexico to raise its tariffs on Chinese goods to stop China from using these countries as backdoors into the U.S. market.

In an interview with CBS News on April 6, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the purpose of global tariffs was to keep China from transshipping goods to the United States, which many Chinese companies did during Trump’s first term to circumvent his tariffs.

Trump is expected to handle China differently this time, having learned from his first term, Atkinson said.

“Historically, when they’ve been dealing with prior presidents, including Trump in his first administration, they were able to pull the wool over presidents’ eyes, offering things and never living up to them,” he said, noting that Beijing promised to buy $50 billion worth of soybeans from the United States.

“They were serious last time, they said. And Trump’s not going to believe that this time.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/ccp-uses-typical-tactics-to-prolong-trade-war-with-us-experts-say-5842194?utm_source=PR_article_paid&utm_medium=email&est=LlK196qyHvNGHIiRzqGjuYlA3QNAeZTyrWpgAqsqlTgPiIifeokaCx6L4i%2Bdg0zhFs3X&utm_campaign=pr-2025-04-20-ca