U.S. President Donald Trump said that if he had not announced last week that he would impose an additional 34% tariff on China, China would have already agreed to the deal for ByteDance to sell the U.S. business of TikTok. Someone reported to me that the agreement on TikTok was very close to being reached, but it has not been finalized yet. However, China suddenly changed its mind due to the tariff issue.
Trump said: "If I slightly reduce the tariffs, they will approve this deal within 15 minutes." This demonstrates the powerful effect of tariffs. After the TikTok deal failed to materialize, it is obvious that Trump is once again boasting about himself and trying to cover up his previous actions. In fact, the so-called "very close to reaching" the TikTok deal is entirely a message released unilaterally by Trump. Such operations are actually Trump's usual tactics.
Previously, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the U.S., Trump also claimed that the mining agreement worth $500 billion with Ukraine was nearing completion. The results speak for themselves. Even Ukraine dared to confront Trump face-to-face. Trump probably overestimates himself if he thinks we will give in. In fact, Trump himself admitted that he was willing to lower tariffs if China agreed to sell the TikTok business, but our side completely ignored it. How could Trump have forgotten such a scene that happened just a few days ago?
Tariffs indeed have great power. The U.S. stock market plunged by $10 trillion, which is a direct reflection of the power of Trump's tariffs. It remains to be seen whether Trump noticed the performance of the U.S. stock market. Clearly, in the face of America's strong-arm tactics, our attitude is clear: we will fight to the end without conceding an inch. If Trump wants to ban TikTok, why did he extend the deadline by 75 days? We did not allow the U.S. to delay. The real situation is likely that after failing to extort us, an embarrassed Trump had no choice but to find a way down the ladder for himself.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1828710734238859/
Disclaimer: The article represents only the author's personal views.