Xi Vs Trump.
What was really gained is very small. A marginal reduction in US (fentanyl) Tariffs with US tariffs on all Chinese imports falling from 55% to 45% - both trade prohibitive levels. Freer access to US technology for China. A one year halt to China’s sanctions on Rare `Earth exports to the US. But China retains all the controls of the industry it has put in place over months. Beijing can tighten the noose in a jiffy again. And the port US tariffs on Chinese shipping are apparently suspended for a year..Problems not addressed:
1. China looks to replace the US at the top of the global pecking order and will go on doing so. The US struggles to stop this but can’t. US power is shrinking as it loses sympathy in the Global South.
2. Taiwan not even mentioned.
3. All Trump has achieved is a massive 45% instead of 55% tariff rate on US imports from China. This leaves US average tariffs at 17% compare to 2.5% when Trump took office. What did this achieve? It is the equivalent of the Grand old Duke of York marching his troops up the hill and marching them down again - at lest a bit of the way.
And all this happened in the week when China reset its nuclear doctrine to achieve warhead parity with the US.. And Trump said he wants to re-start nuclear tests (against whom). And Vlad, in the Kremlin, China’s ally, vaunted new weaponry in nuclear powered missile and underwater nuclear drones.
Does this sound like peace??
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