Next White House leader's complex China plans raise questions about future ties
After winning election **Trump** plans strict China approach but faces complex economic ties and business interests Its unclear how new policy will balance trade restrictions with US market needs
Donald Trumpʼs return to power brings up three key questions about US-China relations. The president-elect wants tough measures — but economic reality might get in the way
The first big issue is trade: Trump talks about 60% China tariffs and wants his trade-expert Robert Lighthizer back (who worked with him about 4 years ago). Some folks close to him want to cut all China ties‚ which seems hard since China is Americas biggest stuff-seller
- Indonesia could make cheaper things
- Vietnam might help too
- But Trump wants 10-20% tax on everyone
- Prices might go way up
Business ties make things tricky. Steve Wynn has money in Macau casinos‚ and Elon Musk — who watched election results with Trump — needs China for his Tesla cars: hes been nice to Beijing about stuff like Taiwan
Kind of pro-China
The next question is about Taiwan defense. Mike Waltz‚ whos gonna be security advisor‚ and likely future Secretary Marco Rubio dont see eye-to-eye with Trump on this one; they care more about democracy while he thinks Taiwan isnt doing its part
Last summer a fun bike trend started in China — students rode 40-miles from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng for soup-dumplings. It got super-big (like 100k riders) but officials shut it down fast; they didnt like so many young people doing stuff together
Taiwan tried to get on Trumps good side right after election with a big arms deal idea — they want F-35 jets and missiles (worth about $15-billion). Meanwhile Chinese cops are looking into some insurance company problems: they grabbed some Evergrande Life Insurance big-shots
