Mr. President, on Truth Social, you say: “I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!”
First, STOP “LIKING” A TOTALITARIAN DICTATOR AND MASS MURDERER, the kind of creature who is by definition “tough” at least when it comes to destroying the innocent. Nobody’s going behind Xi’s back in perpetrating the Uyghur genocide, the brainwashing of Tibetan kids, forced organ harvesting of practitioners of Falun Gong, Uyghurs, and others, mass surveillance and mass censorship, the destruction of Hong Kong’s freedom and democracy, the constant threatening of Taiwan, the constant bashing of the vessels of other countries in the vicinity of the South China Sea and salami-slicing of other countries’ territory, the transnational repression, etc.
If you feel that you nonetheless must keep “liking” this guy for some perverse reason, stop talking about it. Just let it be your secret shame.
Second, WHY “MAKE A DEAL” WITH XI JINPING IF HE WON’T MAKE A DEAL? Give it up and flip the tariffs on China back to 125 percent or 1,000 percent, whatever, and announce the terms on the basis of which they will be rolled back to 10 percent or 30 percent. Don’t bargain, don’t “make a deal.” Just be clear about the terms and wait.
If China then complies with the terms, precipitating a rollback of U.S. tariffs on China, but China’s compliance proves temporary, let the tariff rollback be temporary also.
Third, ENOUGH WITH THE ALL-CAPS.
