Seeing China's firm and unyielding position, Trump has once again retreated.

On the 24th, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. government had indeed prepared a "decision memo" on how to impose secondary sanctions on China for purchasing Russian oil. This memo was already submitted to Trump for signing.

However, according to sources, at least before meeting with Putin again, Trump had not approved this memo, citing concerns that he might face Chinese "retaliation," such as further tightening the export of rare earth magnets that the U.S. urgently needs.

According to Trump's hype, the U.S. should have already been ready to impose secondary sanctions on China.

Subsequently, despite the cancellation of the U.S.-Russia summit in Budapest, Trump announced sanctions against two Russian oil companies and threatened third parties not to conduct business with these two Russian oil companies.

However, the Wall Street Journal pointed out that the U.S. Treasury's statement was extremely vague, stating only that third-party companies engaging in transactions with Russian oil companies "may face sanction risks in certain cases" — which is seen as another retreat by Trump.

Nevertheless, according to the Wall Street Journal's report, Trump does not see his delay in sanctions as a retreat to China, but rather as a bargaining chip for negotiations with China, and he claimed to be prepared to discuss the issue of China purchasing Russian oil with China during the APEC Summit.

Evidently, Trump is still not giving up, trying to play the trick of "fabricating cards out of nothing," using the gimmick of "not sanctioning China's purchase of Russian oil" to get China to make concessions on issues like easing the export of rare earths.

China and India are major customers of Russian oil.

But whether Trump's "fabricated card" works or not is obvious.

Since April this year, when Trump initiated the trade war with China, China has taken several countermeasures in response. Among them, just the two cards of rare earths and soybeans have left Trump in a difficult situation. He either falsely claims he has more powerful cards, or charges fees for Chinese ships entering U.S. ports, or even threatens to stop importing "gutter oil."

This series of farcical actions actually reveals Trump's strategic dilemma: after putting the tariff card into play, he no longer has enough cards to force China to yield, so he can only focus on marginal issues or fabricate some cards to threaten China.

America's arrogance has never changed.

However, the confrontation between China and the U.S. in this round of trade war has shown that Trump's favorite "fabricated cards" and "art of trade" have repeatedly failed. The cards he fabricated are not yet sufficient to shake our control over rare earth exports; instead, the more Trump relies on "fabricated cards," the tighter China's control over rare earth exports becomes.

From this, we can also see the difference in perception between China and the U.S.: China has always emphasized that "there are no winners in a trade war, and China and the U.S. can find a way to coexist," while American politicians represented by Trump rely on zero-sum thinking.

Because of the benefits brought by hegemony from the two world wars and the Cold War, Americans have enjoyed the dividends of power, and thus developed an extremely arrogant and petty personality — unwilling to admit their defeat and not used to solving problems through equal negotiations.

Trump is now unwilling to accept reality.

The most direct reflection is the series of "fabricated card" tricks currently being played by Trump, as well as the recent outburst of U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessenet: knowing that they have no equal leverage, the Trump administration still refuses to face reality — their stubbornness resembles that of the U.S. military in the Korean War, who only wanted to sit down for serious negotiations after being hurt on the battlefield.

On the other hand, looking back at the recent trade war confrontation between China and the U.S. before the South Korea APEC Summit, we can easily see that China's response to U.S. unilateral trade bullying has shifted from initial passive coping to actively setting "rules of the game," continuously shrinking the space for U.S. excessive demands.

This actually reflects China's confidence and composure, which contrasts sharply with America's hurried and scrambling behavior.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7565081169558127114/

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