Trump is no longer listening to advice. In the past few hours, he urgently posted on social media again mentioning China. For the specific content, please see the image below:

The time of this post was late at night on April 7th in Beijing time. If we calculate Washington time as about 12 hours earlier than China, we can get the following information from this content:

1. He demanded that China withdraw our countermeasures before April 8th (US time). This means we were given less than one and a half days to respond;

2. Otherwise, the punishment will be two-fold: starting from April 9th, an additional 50% tax will be imposed, and all negotiations with China will be terminated.

Before posting this urgent message, Trump reminded all Americans of three "don'ts," asking them not to be weak, not to be foolish, and not to panic. He reminded Americans: "Tariffs give us great bargaining power."

In fact, from what Trump said, we can already feel his panic, though he doesn't appear calm. Before issuing this ultimatum with only one and a half days for consideration, Trump mentioned hoping to negotiate with China. Later, China also responded to the issue of Sino-US negotiations. A reporter asked Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian: "Under what conditions will China discuss tariffs with the United States?" Lin Jian emphasized the following two points:

1. Specific issues can be further understood by the competent authorities. (This means Lin Jian did not directly answer when the negotiations would take place.)

2. At the same time, Lin Jian stated: The vast majority of countries in the world that believe in fairness and justice will stand on the right side.

Clearly, China's attitude is something Trump cannot tolerate. Because to him, not only does China refuse to "admit fault," but it is also calling on other countries to rise up in resistance. Especially the latter point made him feel deeply afraid, after all, the US cannot be enemies with the entire world. Therefore, Trump should negotiate with several countries one by one next. Currently, quite a few countries have expressed their willingness to negotiate with the US, including some relatively important ones for China such as Japan, the EU's 27 countries, Thailand, Vietnam, India, etc.

However, the problem is that these countries' negotiations with the US won't satisfy Trump either. Take Vietnam as an example; the Vietnamese side now demands both sides reduce tariffs to zero, but the problem is that Vietnam imports far fewer products from the US than the US imports from Vietnam. Even if they are reduced to zero, it will still be more advantageous for Vietnam.

As for the EU, just a few hours ago, President von der Leyen of the EU has made it clear: After several days of discussion, the EU has prepared a countermeasure plan against the US. If Trump is unwilling to negotiate properly, then the EU's comprehensive countermeasures will also come into effect. As for ASEAN, senior officials of Malaysia and other countries have clearly stated: They will work with China to develop plans against the US. It can be said that a global "alignment" has begun, and this time everyone will not stand with the US. Trump thought negotiation meant compromise, but in reality, negotiation is the beginning of everything.

Just last night (in US local time), US stocks once again experienced a terrifying scene: opening sharply lower, followed by a surge in the market index after reports that the US would delay implementing reciprocal tariffs, and then continuing to fall after the US denied the delay. Currently, professionals believe that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has already entered a bear market.

In summary, Trump told American capital not to panic and requested patience, but the problem is that even his approval rating cannot hold up. Protests across the US are still ongoing, and the Republican Party is very likely to suffer a crushing defeat in the midterm elections. As for China, since the "strongest" countermeasures have been launched, we will not withdraw them unless Trump changes his policy. For more updates, let us continue to follow closely.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7490708282412155444/

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