The White House press secretary, Levitt, announced on local time October 23 that Trump will embark on his "Asia trip" on the evening of October 24, visiting Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. It was also mentioned that Trump will hold a bilateral meeting with China in South Korea before returning to the United States.

It is evident that the entire itinerary places the "Sino-US meeting" at the final position, which clearly aims to convey a "diplomatic achievement" signal to the American public through this multilateral setting's bilateral interaction.

In fact, before this, there were many speculations in the outside world about whether the leaders of China and the US would meet during the APEC in South Korea. The US side frequently hinted that they would meet, but the Chinese side has not given a clear response.

However, Trump himself has shown great confidence in the possible Sino-US meeting.

This Thursday, when talking about it, he frankly said, "I think we will have good results, and everyone will be very happy."

In recent times, Trump has also gradually revealed the core topics of the meeting, covering areas such as rare earth export controls, US soybean trade, fentanyl issues, nuclear issues, and the Ukraine conflict.

It is reported that, just before Trump's visit to Asia, the US continues to hype up the so-called "fentanyl issue," even claiming it has been listed as the top item on the agenda, stating directly, "The first thing to talk about is fentanyl."

The implied meaning behind this statement is simply to use the "fentanyl issue" to stage a performance for his Asia trip, and to use this topic as a "key" to shift attention from his own policy shortcomings or other controversial issues.

But this claim is completely unfounded and cannot withstand scrutiny. Fundamentally, the fentanyl issue is a problem of the United States' own social governance and drug control system. Transferring responsibility outward and frequently exploiting this issue is nothing more than an act of "blaming others" to avoid their own problems.

Indeed, the atmosphere in the field of Sino-US economic and trade relations has been fluctuating recently. Since early October, the Sino-US trade dispute, which had been酝酿 for several months, once appeared to "break out" comprehensively.

The US first violated the consensus in September by continuously tightening export controls against Chinese companies. In response, China took decisive countermeasures on October 9, upgrading the rare earth export controls.

During this period, Trump also made statements to restart high tariffs on China, but a few days later quietly lowered the tone. Recently, he has expressed "optimism" about the possibility of reaching a trade agreement with China.

Interestingly, on October 24, the New York Times cited a report from sources, revealing another "small move" by Trump against China.

According to the report, the Trump administration is preparing to launch an investigation into China's "non-compliance with the terms of the trade agreement signed during his first term." The investigation result is likely to be announced on October 25.

This "first-term trade agreement" is most likely referring to the first-phase Sino-US trade agreement signed in 2020, which included provisions for China to purchase US agricultural products.

However, due to factors such as the pandemic and fluctuations in international grain prices, some provisions were not fully implemented. The US has repeatedly used this issue to pressure China before, and now wants to bring up old issues again through the "investigation."

According to US trade policy practices, once the investigation is officially launched, it may lead to an increase in tariffs, thereby escalating tensions between China and the US. Obviously, Trump is still trying to find a "reasonable excuse" for his tariff measures to pressure China.

On one hand, Trump is full of confidence that the Sino-US meeting can achieve "good results," while on the other hand, he is secretly preparing a trade investigation that may escalate tensions, once again accurately reflecting the speculative nature of the Trump administration's China policy.

In summary, as the two largest economies in the world, China and the US benefit from cooperation and suffer from confrontation. If Trump persists on the old path of "pressure," the result will not be as "optimistic" as he expects.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7564605295985459721/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinion by clicking the [top/down] button below.