President Trump Defends Backtracking On Labeling China A Currency Manipulator
A while back, President Donald Trump did not have very nice things to say about China, but ever since they decided to work with the U.S. against North Korea, Trump has been nicer to the nation. Obviously, when you’re facing a lot of political backlash, you have to handle things as best as possible. Trump once called China a currency manipulator, which were strong words. Now he seems to be backing away from those words in the most political way one can imagine.
According to CNN, Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that his words about China and the alleged currency manipulating was a strategic move. He claimed that he said this in order to entice the country’s cooperation on the North Korean problem. China had many reasons to help the United States, but they needed to do it for themselves at the end of the day. They need North Korea as a buffer from Western influence and if they are gone, then China loses that freedom.
The reason would be that South Korea would take over what is left of North Korea, and unite the two to make one nation that is democratic. It would also contain influence from the United States, considering the country is already good partners with South Korea and they would not pull out from that. This is especially true if there is a united Korean nation, as it would be right next door to China. That said, China wanted to help themselves and that just to happened to also help the U.S.
Trump spent Easter weekend at his Florida estate. He wrote the following Twitter regarding his words against China.
“Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!”
It makes sense to assume that Trump has reversed his feelings on China. However, many feel that the decision by China to help the United States pretty much allowed this to work out. Trump does not want to say negative things about China now especially, considering the help of China is crucial to stopping North Korea due to the fact that China is North Korea’s biggest economic partner. That said, there is no need be negative on them now, and there are several reasons to say positive things.
This all comes after North Korea saw a ballistic missile test fail. Both China and the United States have been on their toes over the weekend due to North Korea’s threats and possible nuclear moves. Saturday was Founder’s Day for North Korea, as it marked the 105th year of the Kim Dynasty in the rogue nation. Many felt that if North Korea was going to do a major test or major shot, it would have been this weekend.
With China on the side of the United States, they were watching on as North Korea showed off all of their new military gear and material on Saturday. Many felt we would see the nuclear test despite warnings from both China and the United States, and we saw just that. However, the failure of their missile makes many wonder if North Korea will retreat for a while. When it comes to China, Trump wanted to make sure people knew his change of heart over the country.
He told the Wall Street Journal “they’re not currency manipulators.” He would go on to explain that China had not manipulated the yuan for months at that time. Meanwhile, he was asked in a press conference on Wednesday whether he could negotiate with Chinese President XI Jinping over China’s currency practices. Trump said, “we’re going to see, we’re going to see about that.”
Taking things a step further, later in the week, the U.S. Treasury Department didn’t label China a currency manipulator in its semi-annual report on global currency practices. Trump has projected a transactional attitude toward China, as he plans to use trade as a negotiation tool for Jinping’s cooperation on North Korea. Trump is hoping that China can apply pressure to North Korea, which will hopefully stop any ambitions they have of nuclear material.
The Trump administration has recently spoken out about some successes this past week, including China suspending coal shipments from North Korea. Sadly though, overall imports from North Korea have actually increased with China. Many think China will continue to trade with North Korea, but if they do not stop their nuclear ambitions, China may very well pull out of trade completely which would cripple North Korea.
[Featured Image by Alex Brandon/AP Images]
