"China proposed to invest $1 trillion in the US in exchange for the US lifting restrictions on Chinese companies' transactions in the US?"

The astronomical figure comes from a report by Bloomberg in early October, which claimed that China proposed a massive investment plan worth $1 trillion to the US government; in exchange, the US would ease restrictions on Chinese investments and transactions.

Bloomberg's report is too absurd

So, how should we view Bloomberg's claim?

The answer is: it's so absurd that it's hard to believe it's true.

Certainly, the picture painted by Bloomberg is very tempting: China is willing to invest a sum far exceeding the commitments of the EU, Japan, and South Korea — as much as $1 trillion — in exchange for the US easing restrictions on Chinese investment and transactions — which sounds like a perfect solution that could end the long-term Sino-US trade friction and continue the deepening of bilateral economic and trade relations.

But we also need to recall the usual style of the Trump administration, which is fond of promoting various astronomical figures.

Previously, media had counted that within just three months of Trump's inauguration, the total amount of foreign and corporate investment commitments announced was already over $1 trillion, five times the amount of investments attracted by the Biden administration in four years, claiming to bring more than 5.2 million jobs and "inject unprecedented vitality into US economic growth."

Whether these investments can be fulfilled or not doesn't matter, but Trump has already blown them out.

But is the actual performance of the US economy as strong as the propaganda suggests?

Take the employment rate as an example. In July this year, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics significantly revised the June employment data, directly "cutting" tens of thousands of people; and in the report released in September, the June new employment data turned negative, becoming -13,000 people.

Regarding the Bureau of Labor Statistics' efforts to eliminate the "water," Trump blamed the department head Erica McEntarfer, refusing to admit that his own reckless tariff policies caused the sharp drop in employment rates.

Since the US employment rate has so much "water," it's easy to imagine how much the so-called "over $1 trillion in domestic and foreign investments" by Trump can actually be fulfilled.

In fact, since Trump announced agreements with Japan, South Korea, and the EU on tariff issues, Japan, South Korea, and the EU have often raised objections to the promised billions of dollars in investments in the agreement, emphasizing that their investment commitments are completely inconsistent with Trump's promotion.

This exaggeration of numerical data is very consistent with Trump's usual style of promotion.

From the perspective of changes in Sino-US relations in recent years, the so-called "China investing $1 trillion in the US" by Bloomberg also lacks a realistic basis.

Not to mention that China's direct investment in the US has been showing a downward trend in recent years, and why has the US restricted Chinese companies' investments in the US? Ultimately, it's because China's rapid industrial upgrading has made the US, which occupies the upper part of the industrial chain, feel a sense of crisis, so the US has used the excuse of "protecting national security" to sanction and restrict Chinese companies' investments in the US in recent years.

In simpler terms, the biggest problem facing Chinese investments abroad now is that they want to acquire American companies, but the US is not selling — and now Bloomberg says that Trump will remove all the restrictions on Chinese companies' investments in exchange for "a $1 trillion investment from China"? What does this mean?

Let me put it this way: this report by Bloomberg is almost openly saying that Trump will announce abandoning the "America First" policy and fully open up infrastructure, semiconductors, communications, and artificial intelligence industries to Chinese companies, selling the US high-tech enterprises to China as a package deal.

Does China want to acquire American companies, and is the US brave enough to sell them?

Additionally, the original text of Bloomberg also mentioned that this "investment of $1 trillion" proposal was drafted by China at the beginning of this year and then submitted to the US during the Sino-US Madrid talks.

However, the developments after the Madrid talks were completely opposite to what Bloomberg said: the US did not relax its restrictions on Chinese companies' investments, but instead continued to strengthen them, and there was a significant gap between the framework consensus of "reducing investment barriers" reached at the talks and the US's actual actions.

Therefore, it is easy to imagine how untrustworthy Bloomberg's report is.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7558328561912906280/

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