I don’t believe this.
If the chinese were as fearful as the article indicates—they would be negotiating the trade deal trump has called for—with the full knowledge that if they fail to do so—they’ll lose american trade entirely and worse access to american technology.
The shock is being felt throughout China. Thus, to say nothing has changed is incorrect. Second, China does nothing hastily. If you think it will respond immediately to America’s economic, political and military moves, that is a mistake. Under present conditions China is energy poor. It is in the same position the USA was thirty years ago, and that along with what has been an overweening self-confidence should now cause it to reevaluate its future. It will tread water for years to come.
They are looking for a way to save face.
IMHO, it’s not the trade deal the Chinese Commie Party fears, it’s making a promise or agreement to stop transferring or stealing intelligential property.
PDJT can put more tariffs on the CCP, but the biggest hammer would be cutting Chinese students from attending STEM programs at our universities. This is where CCP gets significant intelligential property in the early stages of development. It makes the thief of IP easier if you know what to look for when research moves from development to industrial/commercial/military use.
If you have or know a student in a STEM program, I’m confident they will tell you the Chinese are the best group of cheaters on campus. There may be classes where there is a single Chinese student, but all Core classes will have a group enrolled, usually several, minimum of 3. Their goal is an education but also to get some of their group into research programs, then play nice, even contribute to research advancement if they can but primarily to be in a position to steal and transfer IP to the CCP to further their position in the Party. They may not be the best-qualified research students available but they continue to pay full tuition, they shamelessly play the diversity card and the university beats their progressive chest over the whole diversity thing.
The biggest opponents of preventing Chinese students from attending STEM programs would be the universities themselves. It’s all about money, the CCP pays full tuition.
I don’t think that President Trump wants a trade deal with China.
It is a fool’s errand - the communists are bad actors. They are not our friends - they are enemies.
The plan is to stop feeding that beast. Take our business elsewhere, and not be dependent on them for anything.
They started lowering a number of their tariffs on us weeks ago - even as they were talking about fighting us over it all.