On Tuesday, Don Surber posted an article at Substack about the impact the Trump administration had on the Chinese economy.
The article opens with the following statement:
The news on Monday morning was dominated by stories of an economic recovery by Red China of a recession that the U.S. press had largely ignored.
Bloomberg reported, “[Red] China’s factory activity beat expectations in March, boosting optimism about the country’s ability to achieve its ambitious growth goal of around 5% this year.
“The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 51.1 on Monday — above the 50 mark that indicates expansion for a fifth month, the longest streak in more than two years.
“Government data published on Sunday showed manufacturing PMI in March snapped a five-month contraction to rise to the highest in a year. Both numbers beat market expectations, adding to evidence that the country’s industrial sector is building momentum for an economic recovery.”
Trusting Red China numbers is like trusting its statements on covid but the encouraging news is that Red China has — or at least had — a recession. The admission by our Maoist press shows that the communists who run the joint no longer can paper reality over.
Of course, under Biden we no longer can trust our government’s numbers. Maybe we should just give up on compiling numbers because most of them are just polls (or surveys to use their language).
The narrative about Red China has changed dramatically.
The article then describes the predictions (pre-Trump administration) that China would eclipse America economically within a decade. Now those predictions are not looking accurate.
The article then explains why:
The Tax Foundation said, “The Trump administration imposed nearly $80 billion worth of new taxes on Americans by levying tariffs on thousands of products valued at approximately $380 billion in 2018 and 2019, amounting to one of the largest tax increases in decades.”
Of course, Red China ate most of the tariffs as it wanted to maintain market share. The problem for the communists was under Trump’s leadership, other countries joined in. There is more to the story of Red China’s recession, of course. Spreading covid around the world had a backlash. And communism doesn’t work. But do not discount the role of the wrecking ball we call Donald Trump.
This weekend, the New York Post posted an excerpt of Steven W. Mosher’s new book is The Devil and Communist China.
He wrote, “The Trump tariffs—imposed in 2018 and still in place today — set China back on its heels. And the covid debacle deepened China’s economic malaise.
“But most of the wounds have been self-inflicted.
‘The Chinese economy is suffering from a kind of death by a thousand cuts perpetrated by the policies of Xi Jinping, a man who models himself on one of the most monomaniacal — and deadly — communist leaders in human history.”
Reagan took down communist Russia along with Lech Walesa, Margaret Thatcher and Pope Paul II. Trump is taking down Red China with the help of Chairman Xi.
Elections matter.