Gary Bauer: America Is Winning

The loser mentality is deeply ingrained in America’s elites. To them, America is always in a weak and vulnerable position. “We can’t do that,” they say. “We don’t have the power.”
 
Their theme in this current trade controversy is that Premier Xi, China’s communist dictator, doesn’t have to worry about elections. Donald Trump does. Xi has the strong hand. Donald Trump does not. The reality is the exact opposite.
 
Long before Trump’s tariffs, billionaire investor Kyle Bass was saying communist China is in big trouble. Noting that communist China sends us $440 billion in goods and we send them $140 billion in goods, Bass said, “In a tit-for-tat trade war, we win every time… The pain is much greater on their side than our side.”
 
He’s right. Communist China has massive youth unemployment. Protests are breaking out because Trump’s tariffs have shut down Chinese manufacturing, while American manufacturers are “going like gangbusters.”
 
Bass also says that communist China is lying (that’s what communists do) about its economic strength. He’s right. The Wall Street Journal notes that it’s difficult to tell how bad China’s economy is because “the data needed to answer is vanishing.”
 
With no explanation, Chinese officials just stopped “publishing hundreds of data points once used by researchers and investors.” The communist Chinese wouldn’t be “disappearing” the data if they were good. Further suggesting the data are not good, Beijing just launched a series of “sweeping measures” to boost its collapsing economy.
 
China expert Gordon Chang says Xi is losing power. Xi reportedly tried to take control of the People’s Liberation Army, but Chang reports that a leading rival to Xi is “effectively running the People’s Liberation Army … the most important faction of the [Chinese Communist Party].”
 
Now, after days of denying any talks were taking place, Beijing is eager to talk.
 
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with Chinese officials in Switzerland this week. Bessent said these talks would not be about a “big trade deal” but would focus first on de-escalating from the high, embargo-level tariffs.