Just after imposing "the most severe sanctions in history" on Russia, he turned around and asked China to "help resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict"? What is Trump planning behind this 180-degree reversal?
Recently, U.S. President Trump suddenly announced, canceled the scheduled meeting with Putin, on the grounds of the phrase "now can not talk about results."
Immediately after, the U.S. Treasury took steps to bring the two “oil bosses” – Russian oil companies and Lukas Petroleum – to the sanctions list.
The two companies together account for more than 5% of global oil production.
The European Union followed suit and came up with the 19th round of sanctions against Russia, which banned Russian liquefied natural gas and blocked Russian oil exports. It seemed like a big battle, but Moscow didn't panic at all.
In an interview with the media, Russian President Vladimir Putin directly broke Trump's mindset, saying that "the meeting was not ready, it was open."
Even more shockingly, Trump shouted “sanctions can force Russia to make concessions”, and the result was that international oil prices could not bear.
On October 23, WTI crude oil rose directly by more than 5%, perfectly confirming Putin's warning: “If Russian oil supplies are less, global oil prices will rise, and the United States will be the worst at that time.”
The "pressure card" against Russia has been broken, Trump turned his eyes to China and said, "I hope that China will help resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict."
Listen to it, it’s all calculated. He said this when he boarded Air Force One in Asia on October 24. He was not a casual conversation. There were two thoughts behind him.
On the one hand, he wants to "package" the Russia-Ukraine issue with other contradictions between China and the United States; on the other hand, he wants to hand over the responsibility of "resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict" to China.
This time, Trump travelled to Asia with the main goal of concluding a “key mineral deal.”
Why? Because China introduced new rare earth regulations before, it just got stuck in the neck of the United States- 70% of U.S. rare earth is imported from China, whether it is to make chips or to do military work, can not be separated from this thing.
Trump previously also said hard-mouthed to "increase tariffs on China", then when he looked at the rare earth card tight, and quickly changed his mouth to say "tariffs are not calculated", the attitude changed, is to let China on rare earth loose.
But he forgot that the world now is no longer an era where the United States has its word. His old set of “extreme pressure + exchange of interests” does not play in the multipolar pattern at all.
In the past, when the United States imposed sanctions, its allies followed suit, but now it's different-
The EU has its own economic interests, India has its own energy needs, and no one wants to sacrifice themselves for the ambitions of the United States.
China will not be tied up by his routine: the spokesperson of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has long said that the Russia-Ukraine issue must be "handled on the merits", and the new rare earth regulations are to "safeguard national security."
To put it bluntly, China will never compromise just because of Trump's "request for help."
And from a global perspective, the current geo-game is a “multi-subject role”: The United States wants to maintain hegemony, Russia wants to ensure its own security, China wants to promote peace, and countries such as the European Union and India also have their own demands.
It is unrealistic for Trump to rely on "fighting alone" to control all parties.
In the final analysis, Trump canceled the US-Russia summit and turned his head to ask China for help. On the surface, it was the adjustment of diplomatic strategy, but in essence it was the helplessness after the failure of American hegemonic logic.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is not a "trade", and the rare earth supply chain is not a "bargaining chip". Relying on the routine of "shouting harsh words + putting soft words" can neither deceive Putin nor convince China.
If you really want to solve the problem, I urged Trump to put his "Art of Deal" first and think about how the four words "equal dialogue" should be written.