00:00 00:0 Speaker A
China’s imports of US beets and some energy products all declined in the first two months of last year after President Donald Trump began to impose taxes and Beijing. The measures imposed by the United States and China over the past six weeks, and the next possibility in the next few months, are creating great uncertainty and increasing the cost of trade. Now we have to do with us, Bob Davis, author of Broken Engente and former Wall Street Journal editor. Thank you very much for your participation in us. Um, so there is a lot of uncertainty there. Bringing your extensive reporting experience to endure here, what can we note that we can know at this point in terms of the relationship between the two and how may this may develop?
02:0 Bob Davis
Well, I mean, I think you’ve seen before, I mean, Ah, Trump has set a number of taxes on China and I think come on April 2 when he says he is going to introduce him, Ah, what he calls the tax of the other, you see many other things. Um, but I think one of the main differences this time compared to Trump is that it is only targeting China. Basically, it targets each country with a continuous trade surplus with the United States. I mean, this is the raw raw. This is Trump, you know, oh, as it has been for decades. And Trump is one, I think he was too much, ah, under the influence of some Hawk, ah, the advisors that he exists. I mean, he was also an equivalent and what, don’t understand me by mistake. But, Ah, he, Ah, Tak, Ah, you know, Um, focused on China, ئه , that was, the Um, which was mentioned in Trump. I, I don’t see this time that this time. This time, it is much more broader.
04:1 loudspeaker b
Bob, I’m Kanjkol. You know, we had some investors who came, some strategists. They focus on China and have such optimistic views, Bob. They say listen, eventually they think a contract will be reached between Trump and G. That you are going to see a big deal between the United States and China. I’m a knjkol, Bob, do you have that optimism with him and if there is a great deal of dealings, a great deal that was done here, what will be the charts of such a contract that you might see?
05:0 Bob Davis
Yes, I think there will be a contract in another. I mean, Trump really, obviously, you know, he likes the contracts, he thinks as a contract maker. Xi Jinping wants to reduce pressure in the United States. But remember, you know, in the first Trump administration, they had a contract, right? The first phase of the contract, the M, China was not in particular. The Biden administration did not actually try to implement it, but the taxes remained in their place. I think what you see is that economists have warned for decades that when you put your taxes in their places, they are difficult to remove. So I don’t see Trump, you know, the elimination of taxes at a large level of the results, you know, any kind of contract. He might stop himself, ah, some taxes he thought of. Remember, in the campaign, 60% of the tariffs on China. We only up to 20%. So, so it may not have reached 60% of the score. Oh, but I think, you know, what if, what a broad contract should be something in the Fintanel. There is certainly too much about, ‘H, buying Chinese goods, even perhaps, you know, some incentives of Chinese investment in the United States. But I don’t think, and then you may talk about it. You know they are reforming China’s economic policies, but I think that’s the ultimate line of the Xi Jinping. Its last line is to keep China as it is, and not the privileges on economic policy that we know, and political designers have been demanding for decades.
08:2 Speaker A
Um, Bob, I want to ask you about the role of Elon Musk in the US-China relations and because there was a report today that he was at the Pentagon this morning. He is the mask, and initially reports suggest that he information on UM, China and a kind of US military strategy towards the country. The administration pushed him back and said, “No, it’s not what he’s talking about. But regardless of that, he is clearly at the center of many things right now. It has a big business in China. Do you think, do you think nothing, M, is likely to reduce Trump’s approach in the country?
09:2 Bob Davis
I assume that he knew the argument, more stabilizing a kind of, and approaching China, taking into account him, UM, share in UH, in China through Tesla. But remember, I mean, he is there, ah, you know, a, SpaceX. And SpaceX competes with China. So it’s not so clear that his view is, what is it for China? Oh, you know, he is there, he many, Um, ah, what do you tell him? Um, interest, you know, that, that conflict with each other. I mean, what you must remember is that Musk spoke, Ah about Taiwan, as originally a province of China, knows, and when he compared Taiwan to us opposite Hawaii. I mean, that’s something that if you’re in Taiwan, you have to be really worried because I don’t think Trump says that, but has a similar view. So I think, that, the issue of Taiwan is a very different issue from, what, what in Trump one or in the administration of Biden.
11:3 loudspeaker b
Bob, I’m Kanjkol, when we in China, how much can they beat them hard and how can Bob really beat us in the technology sector?
11:4 Bob Davis
Oh, there are many ways to be hit. I mean, just think about it, just think about delaying the iPhone shipments, you know, ah, in a holiday season. There, there is only infinite, you know, the M, the Chinese, the Chinese can push them. But I think what you know, using what you can do is that they are worried about their own economy. Is it true? I mean, their economy is not very good and rely on them. And if they act against big US companies, I think that intimidates all foreign investment in other countries. I mean, if you are Samsung and see China playing around Apple, are you thinking about yourself, oh, that’s very good. You know, here we can hold the market share here, or do you think Gizz can be in the future? And I think it’s second and I think the Chinese are fully aware of it. So that, that’s anger, I think, that, any answer that the Chinese have. But if they want, my God, they can make life miserable for many, to set up US companies and taxes that, they know, they will have a lot of influence, they know, inflation in the United States and how people think, they know, the ability to buy things.
13:59 Speaker A
Bob, in your book, you talked to some of your conversations with, people in the past administrations, the officials they had, that was with China’s relationship with China. What do you think it was, the best lesson that each of them talked about with you that this administration may be able to take?
14:36 Bob Davis
You know, I mean, he, the general lesson was the difficulty of communication with China. What do you want from China? Deciding for you, for the administration, what really does it want. I mean, the administrations came to the name that they would be tough on China. It wasn’t just Trump. I mean, George W. Bush entered China as a competitor, but later, he, support, ah, ah, in an understanding way, know, by finance, the global financial crisis. Obama also had some tough things about China, but there were still dealing with the financial crisis, but also China’s help in the climate. So I think, I expect the general lesson is to think about what you want in China and how you, Um, Ah, are you trying to do it? And how do you get the allies to try to do it? Because to the extent that you can influence China, the way China works, it is much more effective if your allies work with you because they can know that the damage is not only from the United States, but in Europe, Japan, Australia, many other countries.
16:36 loudspeaker b
Bob, it’s very good to be on the program today. Thank you very much for your participation in us.
16:4 Bob Davis
thank you.