【By Observer Network, Liu Chenghui】"Why might Trump lose the trade war with China?" On April 15th, The New York Times published an interview report with Thomas Friedman, a renowned columnist of the newspaper and author of "The World is Flat," under this title.
Friedman did not hide his strong dissatisfaction with the current U.S. president and once again compared his team to "clowns." He particularly mentioned that Trump's trade war strategy has many problems; it lacks clear objectives and rational methods, harming itself and alienating allies. In contrast, "China won't act recklessly like Trump does," focusing on related industrial development and achieving significant results.
Friedman believes that in the current world development pattern, humans face global issues such as AI management and climate change, and China and the U.S. are key to solving these problems. He calls for cooperation between both sides, otherwise, more problems will arise.
"People need to understand how powerful this engine (China) is. If we don't take it seriously, we will be completely crushed," he said.
Thomas Friedman accepting the interview from The New York Times host - Video screenshot
"Chinese people are serious about their work, unlike Trump who acts recklessly."
Friedman said that in terms of current world development, humans face three survival-related issues: how to manage artificial intelligence; how to cooperate in responding to climate change; and how to deal with instability in weak countries and certain regions.
"In my view, only two superpowers—America and China—can address these issues, but only if they cooperate," he said. "Sooner or later, whether easily or at a cost, I believe they must realize this."
He believed that in the late stages of the Industrial Revolution, a country needed coal, steel, aluminum, internal combustion engines, gasoline cars, and electricity to prosper; however, in the near future, prosperity would come from robots, batteries, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and self-driving cars. This ecosystem would become the source of all momentum.
"As an American, it is crucial for us to participate in that ecosystem and compete fairly within it," he said.
"I have just seen the future. But it is not in America." On April 2nd, Friedman wrote an article titled this way, mentioning his recent trip to Shanghai. He also said that Trump's "ingenious idea" that raising tariffs would benefit the U.S. economy would not work.
In the article, Friedman recalled that he faced a choice: which tomorrow's world to go to? Eventually, between Shanghai Disneyland and Huawei Qingshu Lake Research Center, he chose the latter.
Huawei's Qingshu Lake Research Center in Qingpu, Shanghai - Qingpu District Government Website of Shanghai
The host said to Friedman: "When you returned from China, I asked you how your trip to China went, and you told me: you have no idea how bad things are in the U.S."
Friedman replied: "Yes, because when you are in China, what you see is the result of 30 years of development like working out in a gym."
He gave an example of China's solar panel industry, saying that local governments supported local solar panel factories, resulting in a large number of solar panel companies emerging in a short time in China. After fierce competition, only a few companies survived. These enterprises were so strong that they could go global at prices and levels of innovation that foreign competitors found hard to match.
He believed that this was why China dominated the global solar panel market.
Moreover, people didn't see that amidst the fierce market competition, China's supply chains experienced explosive growth to meet industrial demands. The situation was similar in the automobile and robotics industries, where China had established a complete and interconnected supply chain system.
In the interview, Friedman said that China has many goals in the world, trying to defeat the U.S. in areas where the U.S. holds an advantage. "We need to understand this and take it seriously," he said.
He said that the Chinese are "people who do serious work," and they wouldn't "act recklessly" like Trump does, nor would they place fools in key positions.
"I often hear people in Washington ask me: Are you pro-China? Did you say good words or bad words about China?" Friedman said that upon hearing these questions, he could only escape, because this had nothing to do with the future world.
"My goal is to make China my permanent 'Sputnik moment.' I want to help people understand how powerful this country has become—whatever they have done—and if we don't take it seriously, we will be completely crushed by it," he said.
"Sputnik moment" is a historical metaphor originating from the Cold War era, often used to describe an event or phenomenon that triggers a strong sense of crisis and stimulates competitive consciousness as a critical turning point.
He added: "The current state of the world is: regardless of the process, China has achieved success. If you don't recognize their achievements, then you will miss something important."
"Since hiring clowns, prepare to watch the circus show"
It is worth noting that Friedman published a sharply-worded commentary article on April 10th, directly pointing out that "Trump has plunged America into a war without a chance of winning."
"An idea keeps lingering in my mind: since hiring clowns, prepare to watch the circus. My fellow Americans, we've hired a bunch of clowns!" He wrote in the article that Trump caused great chaos in the market—undoubtedly causing countless Americans to panic and sell off stocks. Then, Trump suddenly reversed his stance on Wednesday, announcing a delay in imposing tariffs on most countries.
He said: "This sends a message to the world and China: I can't handle the pressure anymore. If written as a book, its title could be 'The Art of Surrendering.'
In this interview, Friedman said: "I don't know what the tariffs on China are—perhaps we're approaching infinity. I'm not sure. But if there is a strategy behind this, like the one we used to have, I would fully support it."
"But if the strategy is simply building a wall for us to go back to digging coal, relying solely on oil, and killing wind energy and electric vehicle industries, then it will end in disaster."
The host mentioned that many articles put forward a theory: although China dominates global manufacturing, it is not the only manufacturer; it just occupies a leading position in this area, while the U.S. holds a leading position in the world financial architecture. Based on this theory, Trump and his team tried to reclaim manufacturing from China.
Regarding this, Friedman dismissed it with disdain. He once again compared Trump's team to "clowns."
"Since hiring clowns, let's wait and see the circus," he sarcastically remarked. "If this is your theory, then why not impose a 1000% tariff on China on day one?"
April 15th, New York City, traders conduct transactions when the opening bell rings at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Visual China
Friedman described Trump's team members as "simple-minded" because after imposing taxes, there must be a strategy, such as: how do you plan to use the time gained through tariffs to build the industrial foundation you desire?
"What are they doing? Trump built a wall against China, then cracked down on American car companies... Ford's stock price has fallen to $7.5. Why is that? Just because Ford followed all the policies of the Biden administration (on clean energy), which is exactly what a rational company would require itself to do. It is also what people hope it will do."
"Then what did Donald Trump do? He appeared with his radical right-wing rhetoric, saying: we don't do electric vehicles here. Electric vehicles are for sissies. We only do macho industries."
"So you want to bring (manufacturing) back like this?" Friedman angrily said. "I don't want my children to tighten parts for cars. I want them to design, invest in, and invent the next generation of electric vehicles."
He also criticized Trump for spending too much energy opposing "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) strategies.
On January 20th, on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order ending DEI projects in federal agencies at the White House. Trump also targeted dozens of universities, including Michigan State University, ordering federal agencies to conduct civil compliance investigations into universities with DEI project budgets exceeding $1 billion.
"If I had limited time on this earth, I certainly wouldn't focus on that. I would focus on doubling the research capabilities of these universities, and I would focus on doubling investment in the National Institutes of Health."
"What are they doing? They are cutting the budget of our most precious research institutions!"
"All of this is nonsense. They are not serious people. They are clowns," Friedman said.
The host also mentioned that the chaos of Trump's tariff policy caused enormous pressure on the financial system, stifling a lot of future investments. It consumed a large amount of political capital for the U.S., leading to a weakening of America's influence over other countries, while the government claimed victory, but actually achieved nothing.
"The situation is worse than not reaching an agreement," Friedman said. "We have shot ourselves in the foot. Now our situation is even more difficult because we alienated all those allies we will need to counterbalance China in the future. This is a total disaster."
Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493820162345419274/
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