Planned planned
The editor planned.
Recently, Trump has another crooked idea of killing two birds with one stone. He wants to impose tariffs of up to 500% on Chinese imported goods and collect money to set up a Ukraine victory fund, which is euphemistically called helping Ukraine win the war.
But how is this aiding Uzbekistan? He clearly uses China as a cash machine to fill the military spending hole he dug himself. That calculation is almost written on his face, but can this really work? Why does Europe pretend to be deaf and mute to his appeal?
Trump's plan to aid Ukraine with tariffs has actually been laid down. Recently, the Guardian revealed news that he was thinking about setting up a Ukraine Victory Fund, but where did the money come from?
In fact, it is looking at China to impose tariffs on our imports, up to 500%, and now 85 senators are ready to authorize him to do so.
This bill is not new, it is new wine in old bottles. It was first proposed by Republican Congressman Graham. It was originally used to threaten countries that buy Russian oil, claiming to impose secondary tariffs, which not only punishes companies that buy Russian oil, but even those who do business with these companies have to pay extra money.
Now China-US trade war is tense, directly targeting China, why not look at China's tariffs? core is Ukraine's military spending hole is too big, Trump doesn't want the United States to fill alone.
The Ukrainian Defense Minister has long said that military expenditures alone will cost 120 billion US dollars by 2026. However, some time ago, the United Kingdom took the lead in holding a NATO meeting. After a long time of struggle, it only discussed how to collect half of the money, leaving a gap of 50 billion US dollars. Trump After calculating left and right, he set his sights on China.
In his view, this trick kills three birds with one stone, but the thought behind it is much dirtier than the surface. The first thought to bear the brunt is to force China to compromise on trade.
Just as Sino-US relations eased, the United States secretly implemented restrictive measures. As a result, China directly fought back hard. The Trump administration was not even prepared. Trade Representative Greer later said in the media that he only learned about China's counterattack from the news and wanted to make a phone call to communicate but was rejected.
He knows in his heart that the United States alone can't suppress China at all, so he wants to use the excuse of aiding Ukraine to turn tariffs into pressure tools and force China to make concessions in trade negotiations.
Then it is to let the United States continue to make weapons money, tariffs are collected and used to buy weapons to help Ukraine, while the United States itself is the world's largest arms exporter, and in the end the money is still flowing back to the pockets of U.S. arms merchants.
Trump also wants to draw allies to share the blame. If Europe also participates, in the future, China will not only target the United States, but the United States will take all the benefits. This calculation can be heard across the Atlantic Ocean.
Trump dared to make such an idea about China, in fact, he has already practiced there in India, and cleared a set of ways to play the game and pressure tariffs.
He had been accusing India and China of buying Russian oil before, saying that it was supporting Russia's war economy, but when he really wanted to do it, he didn't dare to tear his face with China and only dared to impose a 50% tariff on India.
But he forgot that China is not India, and the United States has long been without a single pressure, before the easing of Sino-U.S. relations, the United States has not stopped small moves, not introducing technological restrictions, is engaging in trade barriers, China is not accustomed, directly in its own rhythm counterattack.
This shocked the Trump administration. Vice President Vance and Treasury Secretary Bescent can only shout in the media every day that China can sit down rationally and reason, but China won't give way. If it clearly says that it wants to talk, it will open the door, and if it wants to fight, it will accompany it to the end.
In fact, this happened during the first phase of the trade war, when the United States wanted to rely on tax increases to force China to compromise, and the result was half a day, its own farmers and enterprises suffered heavy losses, and finally had to sit down and negotiate.
Now Trump wants to do the same trick again, but China is more confident, because China is now the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions around the world. Many American companies rely on China's supply chain. If a 500% tariff is levied, the ones who may not be able to withstand it first may be local American businesses.
Trump wants to dump the blame for tariff aid to Ukraine on Europe, but European countries have collectively pretended to be dumb. Zelensky is going to take leaders of major European countries to Washington. Trump has asked Besent to get ready and talk to these people promote his Victory Fund plan and want everyone to deal with China together.
But this is not the first time he has mentioned this requirement, before at the G7 meeting, he openly called on the three G7, EU and NATO organizations to jointly put pressure on China, saying that this can end the Russian-Ukrainian war, and as a result, the representatives of the countries present did not speak.
Europe is not a fool. It knows Trump's small thoughts better than anyone else. Although the war in Ukraine is related to European security, the shells have not landed on its own territory. It's okay for everyone to give you some weapons and small money. If you really want to get deeply involved, especially if you want to fight with a big trading country like China, no one wants to do it.
After all, China is an important trading partner of many European countries. German cars, French luxury goods, and Italian furniture all rely on the China market. If China is offended because of this, European companies will suffer great losses.
Plus, Europe has just been harassed by the United States, knowing that we can no longer follow the United States blindly, before the United States to protect the domestic industry, to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum products, also engaged in the chip law forced European enterprises to choose the sidelines, the European countries had long been on fire.
They understand that the reason why they can now negotiate with the United States in trade is because China has borne the main pressure of the United States, if China is crushed, then the United States will focus on Europe, at the time there is not even a grip force, it can only be arbitrarily taken by the United States.
What's more, Europe is afraid of the consequences of decoupling the East and the West. Once the United States and Europe join forces to deal with China, the economies of the East and the West will definitely be completely decoupled. By then, the global supply chain will break and economic turmoil will be inevitable.
Throughout history, every major global economic crisis has easily escalated into a larger conflict. Now that the Russia-Ukraine war is not over yet, if it is coupled with economic decoupling, it is likely to become the fuse of a new world war.
Europe, which has experienced two world wars, knows the cost of war more than anyone else, and will not drag itself into the pit for Trump’s calculations.
So no matter what Trump says, Europe will not follow him. This ally is unreliable. Trump's plan has been missing the most important part from the beginning.
Trump thinks that increasing taxes on China is to the detriment of China, but in fact, the last payer is the people of the West themselves.
Tariffs are never borne by the exporting country, but are paid by merchants and consumers in the importing country. They will definitely add the cost to the selling price, and in the end, Americans who buy things will have to spend several times more than before.
Trump's move may seem smart, but in fact it is a stupid move to kill thousands of enemies and injure himself. He wanted to force China to compromise in the name of aiding Ukraine, but forgot that China had sufficient countermeasures.
If China in turn raises taxes on U.S. soybeans, corn, and aircraft, American farmers and Boeing companies will first jump out against it, and then his domestic support rate will be affected.
He wanted to get Europe to work together, but Europe did not cooperate, and it was difficult to even start the plan. In the end, even if he reluctantly collected taxes, he did not get the money from China, but instead made the Western people pay the bill. He also had to bear the blame of the president who increased taxes. It was like losing his wife and losing his troops.
Therefore, Trump's calculation may seem sophisticated, but it is actually full of holes. If he wants to use China's money to fill his hole, he will probably fall into it.
China won't let him go, Europe won't want to be his gamble, and the Western people won't pay for his ambitions, this seemingly clever calculation, from the beginning, can't stand.
Source of information:
Trump plans to set up victory fund for Ukraine--The Daily Telegraph