Is Trump Looking for a Grand Bargain With China?
by Gordon G. Chang • December 24, 2024 at 5:00 am
[T]rying to reach a grand bargain with China — what [Trump] was hinting at — would be exactly the wrong approach at this or any other moment.
Trump has already tried to reach an accommodation with China: his Phase One Trade pact of January 2020. He calls it "the best trade deal" ever, but it is now widely viewed as a bust. The Chinese, during an election year in America, never honored its terms.
[Chinese President Xi Jinping's] actions are the inevitable result of China's communist political system, which idealizes violence, struggle, and domination. This system means there can be no accommodation with the Communist Party.
The Chinese regime believes the world is its enemy. No enduring understanding, pact, deal or agreement is possible.
"China and the United States can together solve all of the problems of the world, if you think about it," President-Elect Donald Trump said on December 16, at a Mar-a-Lago press conference.
He also called China's President Xi Jinping "amazing" and confirmed he had invited the Chinese leader to his inauguration.
Earlier in the month, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris and stated this in connection with efforts to end the war in Eastern Europe: "China can help."
The victorious Trump of December was noticeably more friendly to China than the Trump of the long, grueling campaign. During the campaign, the Republican candidate was often in trade-war mode, promising to impose an additional across-the-board tariff of more than 60% on all Chinese goods.
