Negotiations with China

In the Conservative Treehouse, Sundance once again explains how Trump’s team deals with China.

The dance with the dragon is a complex geopolitical relationship between two large economies. China’s view within the dynamic is shaped by their own internal ideology and outlook. The panda mask dynamic was/is strategic and has served them well for decades, but now President Trump -while engaging a structural confrontation- has used the panda strategy against Beijing’s interests. China is flummoxed.

Each of President Trump’s trade team members have a specific role; each member also has a specific opponent within the dance:

♦Peter Navarro is the blue-collar hawk. He focuses on the administration’s Wall Street adversaries; and the U.S. multinationals -American companies- who have aligned their interests with Beijing. Navarro’s focus is internal to U.S. interests. Navarro confronts U.S. corporations, Wall Street interests, who are working against Main Street.

♦Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin carries the economic-financial weapons (represents the dollar), and he faces toward global adversaries (IMF, World Bank, European Central Bank, etc.) who have also aligned their interests with Beijing and the status quo.

♦Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, coordinates the punitive actions that keep Beijing in a position of compromise. Ross reviews prior agreements, trade legal specifics, searches through contractual obligations and ultimately controls the tariffs, if/when triggered by President Trump. Secretary Ross faces down the World Trade Organization (WTO).

♦U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is the contract writer; the primary negotiator; and he is at the center of the trade group where the details are constructed. Lighthizer writes the terms based on the objectives of President Trump. Only POTUS approves the new agreements.

♦White House Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow is the explainer, the trade diplomat. The communication bridge between what is happening in the big picture and what the subsequent consequences mean. Chairman Kudlow is to remain affable, optimistic and approachable by any interests who have concerns. The PR guy.

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones”

~ Machiavelli

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