Title: Trump’s China Policy: Avoid These 3 Pitfalls
Many people think the first Trump administration had a big role in making everyone agree on China stuff, saying China is the biggest competition for the US. This was in documents like the 2017 national security strategy and speeches by important people, like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in July 2020. They said before, the China policy was a mess, and China’s President Xi Jinping is a big bad guy trying to take over the world.
It’s funny, though, ’cause the biggest hater of this idea might be President Trump himself. He doesn’t argue that China is super strong, and he’s always saying China takes advantage of the US. But unlike his friends, who think the US and China are in a big fight, he only cares about trade and drugs.
One reason for this is that Trump kinda likes Xi, he thinks Xi is a cool dude. Even if he’s mad at Xi for the virus mess, Trump still calls him a “dear friend.” He thinks that by being friends with Xi, he can fix things between the US and China.
Trump’s idea for US-China relations is sorta like an old idea from 2009, the “informal G2” thing. This guy said the US and China should talk a lot ’cause they are super important countries. Now, the US and China need to avoid a war and work together on problems that affect both countries.
But, before Trump meets with Xi, he needs to watch out for three big problems that could make things worse. First, Xi might not trust Trump’s nice words and could think Trump will turn against China, especially if there’s a big problem like the virus. Xi also knows the US wants to hurt China’s economy, so he won’t think Trump will change things.
Second, China is much stronger now because of Trump’s taxes, so Xi will be tough in trade talks. He wants to know what Trump will give up, like maybe Taiwan, to make a deal. Trump thinks China won’t attack Taiwan ’cause Xi thinks he’s “crazy,” but he doesn’t care much about Taiwan’s safety.
Third, Trump’s way of doing things is making US friends mad at him, especially in Europe. They are starting to think of China as a better friend than the US. So, Trump might not have much power in talks with Xi ’cause he’s losing friends.
In the end, Trump needs to talk to Xi a lot to avoid problems, but his actions might make it harder for him to get a good deal.
