this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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[–] [email protected] 44 points 4 days ago (2 children)

China nailed the "never interrupt your enemy while he's in the midst of making a mistake" strategy. Trump absolutely weakened his position.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Why would they be?

Trump has effectively handed all of the USA's soft power over to the EU, China & Russia, depending on the part of the planet we are discussing.

All of it.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 days ago

Not really "handed" over" as much as made it disappear. It's up to other countries to fill the vacuum.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

In Trump's words, "he doesn't have the cards" "he has bad cards". Which also makes it fairly clear he's never played poker or has and is baffled by the rules.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It makes more and more sense that he failed to keep a casino afloat.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It's like he's NOT a deal maker, but some kind of absolutely unqualified idiot!

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[–] [email protected] 169 points 5 days ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago

Not enough eyeliner

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[–] [email protected] 134 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (40 children)

Why would China be desperate?

China offers the cheapest high spec manufacturing in the world. If the US doesn’t buy that manufacturing, that leaves the rest of the world. Of course China wants American money, but it’s not going to devastate their economy in the short term. It’s a reasonable cost for providing China with so many opportunities, which they are aggressively pursuing, to cultivate deep seated international power.

The prevalence of Chinese manufacturing actually is a national problem for the US. While China has its pick of buyers, the US is stuck with one seller. The US should have been working for twenty years with India, Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, and maybe even some counties in Africa to create access to alternatives. It didn’t.

Weaning the US off Chinese manufacturing would take decades of elegant economic policy and diplomacy featuring several countries. China knows this is where it actually has power over the US.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 4 days ago

I have worked professionally with Chinese vendors and suppliers for years, both pre and post COVID. China offers the whole range of manufacturing, not just cheap labor but high tech and precision devices too. You want cheap injection molded toys for Happy Meals? Done. Precision machine tools for CNC? Can do. Medical imaging devices? No problem. Mass assembly of automotive cable looms? Easy. If a business wants quality product from China they can do it.

And much like the classic European model where a textile or steel industry would collect in a valley for logistic/resource reasons and organically form an industrial ‘core’ the same is true in China, but with a centralized planned economy. Vocational schools feed local industry with skilled workers like engineers or tool and die makers, so that region experiences further and further specialization and conglomeration.

There’s no coherent or comparable manufacturing:educational alliance in the US, closest we have is ‘feeder schools’ that partner with individual industrial/scientific giants on an ad-hoc basis.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

China has been working with African countries for decades to build their supply lines. The US has had a blind spot over Africa the whole time

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not true, they've just done a better job and built infrastructure instead of corrupt power networks based on the threat of regime change

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

What do they got better principals than us? Wait are we the bad guys?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Also, China has a shitload of US debt that they can use as leverage

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Which makes the debt ceiling fight that's coming up even more interesting. (article from March 24th)

The U.S. is most likely to default on its $36 trillion national debt sometime between mid-July and early October if Congress doesn’t act, the Bipartisan Policy Center predicted Monday.

......

Debt limit forecasters are expected to release a narrower X-date prediction after most tax receipts have landed at the IRS in April. While it’s “quite unlikely,” there is still a possibility that the U.S. could run out of borrowing power in early June if that gush of tax revenue comes in far below projections, the Bipartisan Policy Center cautioned.

The cost-cutting efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency effort headed by Elon Musk could also affect cash flow enough to change the X-date prediction, along with the strength of the economy, tariffs and any new spending or cuts Congress approves, the center said.

Given how DOGE is inflating it's cost cutting savings by over $140 Billion, the tariff trade war, and congress' habit of pushing things to the brink when their luck is going to run out sooner or later -- this could get ugly quick.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I hope they don't back down, even if that orange whimp ends up pulling back the tariffs. Don't re-engage with the US until they elect a decent leader. They should really feel the impact of electing such a moron for a internationally significant role.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago

Yep. If America doesn't have a severe depression &/or civil war, the mental illness of MAGA will continue destroying the country from within, and wreaking havoc with global stability.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I think that underestimates the extent to which the Chinese economy is vulnerable to reduced demand from foreign partners. I'm not saying China's in a worse position than the US, since the US has a blithering imbecile traitor as President. But they're not invulnerable to economic shocks either.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Part of my company's plan to weather the trade war was to stock up and wait for our competition to be priced out. We also expect the factories in China that supplied our competitors will shut down too. There is a ton of spare capacity with some of them and they work on slim margins. Even a short term downturn of orders can push many to close.

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[–] [email protected] 138 points 5 days ago (2 children)

They've called your bluff, buddy and now you're going to have to take an absolute beating of a lifetime. Enjoy!

[–] [email protected] 43 points 5 days ago

Not him, he'll take whatever he can get and sell it to his cultists as the world's greatest deal.

As usual, it's the US taking the beating ...

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The tariffs will be something Biden put in place and Trump removed to save the economy within a week.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

I will say, lots of people in my state remember the 2008 Economic Crisis as being caused by Obama.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It was always eventually going to come down to US vs China for economic leadership of the world. Trump ceded that fight. Or accelerated it in a way that makes real conflict a greater concern than it was before, depending on the aggression/militarism of future administrations.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago

Trump accelerated. Idiot

[–] [email protected] 95 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The Art of the Deal:

  1. Behave recklessly and make threats to destroy the global economy
  2. Get pushback from allies
  3. Reverse course for allies, but behave even more recklessly against rival
  4. Rival realizes you don’t know what you’re doing
  5. Beg rival to engage
  6. Rival refuses
  7. Take insanely reckless actions toward rival
  8. Rival stands firm
  9. Get told by billionaires that you’re messing with their profits and, as a side note, domestic stability
  10. Reverse course for rivals, look incredibly weak and get exposed for not having a clue what you’re doing on the global stage
  11. ?????????????????
  12. Make America Great Again
[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Make America Great Depression Again

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago

The Art of the Kneel.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 5 days ago

He needs a W and has pissed off anyone capable of giving him one.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 4 days ago

Trump is desperate.

No quotes or further words needed.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 5 days ago

He abuses people hardest to try to force them to submit. It may work with some of his business deals but in international politics with an economic superpower? What a clown.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 5 days ago

Mussolini his ass already.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago

Trump is the jealous ex who thought they would find someone better after breaking up with you

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Trumps tactics only work on weak people like himself. In addition to that is china's history of dealing with others.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago

Do not back down China! I love to see that dumbass flounder like the fat toxic fish he is.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago (3 children)

It probably goes without saying at this point, but deporting someone to a culture in which they're not competent is wildly immoral, and doing so in such a way that they end up encarcerated in subhuman conditions especially despite not committing a crime in that jurisdiction is monstrous.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If he doesn't die of old age in his second term, he will die in prison after. Along with a good part of his cronies.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

I hope you're right, but he would be the first to do so in a very long time.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (1 children)

He's playing poker with the Chinese who love gambling and he's also an idiot who thinks he's a great gambler while holding all his cards backwards

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

Jesus Christ Donald Trump sucks.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago

Fart of the seal 🦭💨

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Like we didn't know that Trump wants to make a deal, lets not fool our self's! China has the upper hand and Trump can do nothing ATM.

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