MAGA madness and China’s public enemy number one
President Trump’s turmoil triggers Chinese backlash and boosts Beijing’s standing in the world
Chaos aptly described President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. “Bully” is another five-letter word coined by China to depict his first 100 days back in the Oval Office.
As the tariffs tsunami batters global trade, relations between Washington and Beijing are spiraling out of control amid a rhetorical rumble between two economic superpowers.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs set the tone earlier this week, posting a social media video calling for an “end to the crisis” and pointing the finger at Trump.
“Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst – it only deepens the crisis,” the two-minute-plus video narrated in English and subtitled in Chinese stressed.
“History has proven compromise won’t earn you mercy – kneeling only invites more bullying. China won’t kneel … to a paper tiger,” a reference to Trump and his pandemonium policies.
Behind the hyperbole:
- Factory activity in the world’s second largest economy dropped to a 16-month low in April.
- The purchasing managers’ index or PMI fell to 49 and below the 50-point mark, which separates expansion from contraction, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported.
The United States is being slowly downgraded in investors’ eyes.
Michael Hirsh, Foreign Policy
Delve deeper: A private PMI by Caixin/S&P painted a slightly more optimistic picture. But it warned of the dangers ahead. “The ripple effects of the China-US tariff standoff will be felt in the second and third quarters,” Wang Zhe, of the Caixin Insight Group, said.
Between the lines: “In April, the expansion in demand slowed, with exports stunted and employment shrinking. Market optimism weakened significantly,” the Caixin report stated.
Big picture: A storm is also brewing on the other side of the Pacific. Author and columnist Michael Hirsh was scathing in a commentary for Foreign Policy entitled, “Trump’s first 100 days reveal a ‘strongman’s’ unprecedented weakness.”
Bottom line: “Largely because of an array of Trumpian policies, the United States is being slowly downgraded in investors’ eyes from the ultimate safe haven to an unpredictable wilderness where the rule of law is in doubt,” Hirsh wrote.
China Factor comment: While fears persist about Beijing’s blueprint, an Ipsos poll showed for the first time that more people globally now say China has a positive impact on the world than the US. A backlash to Trump’s tariffs was cited amid the MAGA madness.