Trump Blinked

[wing2000]

The "Art of the Deal" President strikes again:

The Trump administration announced a sweeping 90-day de-escalation of the trade war, with both sides agreeing to lower tariffs and another round of negotiations. The announcement was full of vague promises of resumed trade — and no clear wins for U.S. structural demands.

Before the trade talks in Geneva over the weekend, Trump had floated slashing tariffs on China to 80% — down from the eyebrow-raising 145% he’d imposed just weeks prior. But he also said on social media that he would leave the details to “Scott B,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Turns out Bessent had other ideas. The deal hashed out in Geneva landed at a 30% levy on Chinese imports — a number padded by a 20% fentanyl-related tariff already on the books.

The Administration announces a de-escalation to a trade crisis that Trump created.

Is this the Art of the Deal?

Create market chaos.
Declare our tariff policy will not change.
China doesn't budge......
Negotiate.
Announce deescalation.
Claim some vague agreements (without any evidence, of course).

....And then announce we won.

A trade war ends with Trump blinking — for now

If this was a poker game, China may have just called the American president's bluff

qz.com

 

[Bradskii]

Exactly right. He raised, China reraised. And he folded immediately. What a complete waste of time and energy. He gets the whole planet offside with the US, they're all looking to take the US out of the financial loop and he'll class this as a win.

 

[Vambram]

The USA did NOT fold in this upcoming trade deal agreement with China. In my opinion, anyone who thinks otherwise is not paying close attention to all of the relative information and facts.

 

[Vambram]

https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/trump-positive-tariffs-lawler/

https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/us-china-tariff-deal/

https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/china-trade-deal-talks-scott-bessent/

 

[Bradskii]

The USA did NOT fold in this upcoming trade deal agreement with China. In my opinion, anyone who thinks otherwise is not paying close attention to all of the relative information and facts.

Well, I've been following it very closely indeed. I have no idea what Chinese companies were telling their governments, but I certainly know what US ones were telling the white House.

Walmart, Target CEOs privately warned Trump tariffs could lead to empty shelves soon

Two U.S. retailers warned President Trump his sweeping tariff policy could disrupt supply chains and lead to empty shelves in the coming weeks.

www.cbsnews.com

And then we have Trump nonsensically suggesting that kids only need two dolls instead of thirty and hey, what if they cost a few bucks more (and wasn't he going to drop prices from Day One?). Which is exactly what was going to happen. The Chinese would have dug in and worn any economic problems. I mean, these guys play for real. I was being facetious when I asked about the pressure Chinese companies might have put on the Chinese leadership. I can tell you without any doubt that it was zero. Their system doesn't work like that.

He folded. The whole world watched as he did and that will impact any discussions that he has with anyone else. And try to bluff any of the major players? They'll get the best deal they can while behind the scenes they'll be making deals to go elsewhere. It's a big world out there. Trump thinks it revolves around him. He's learning that it doesn't.

 

[Vambram]

Well, I've been following it very closely indeed. I have no idea what Chinese companies were telling their governments, but I certainly know what US ones were telling the white House.

Walmart, Target CEOs privately warned Trump tariffs could lead to empty shelves soon

Two U.S. retailers warned President Trump his sweeping tariff policy could disrupt supply chains and lead to empty shelves in the coming weeks.

www.cbsnews.com

And then we have Trump nonsensically suggesting that kids only need two dolls instead of thirty and hey, what if they cost a few bucks more (and wasn't he going to drop prices from Day One?). Which is exactly what was going to happen. The Chinese would have dug in and worn any economic problems. I mean, these guys play for real. I was being facetious when I asked about the pressure Chinese companies might have put on the Chinese leadership. I can tell you without any doubt that it was zero. Their system doesn't work like that.

He folded. The whole world watched as he did and that will impact any discussions that he has with anyone else. And try to bluff any of the major players? They'll get the best deal they can while behind the scenes they'll be making deals to go elsewhere. It's a big world out there. Trump thinks it revolves around him. He's learning that it doesn't.

Apparently, it looks like that you didn't read the information provided in those Newsnationnow.com links that I provided.

 

[Fantine]

Exactly right. He raised, China reraised. And he folded immediately. What a complete waste of time and energy. He gets the whole planet offside with the US, they're all looking to take the US out of the financial loop and he'll class this as a win.

Lots of insider trading in DC I bet.

 

[Vambram]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/business/china-trade-deal-trump

Perhaps this analysis here on CNN.com might be informative. Please look for the cnn.com article titled "How Trump managed to get his much needed China trade victory"

 

[FreeinChrist]

The USA did NOT fold in this upcoming trade deal agreement with China. In my opinion, anyone who thinks otherwise is not paying close attention to all of the relative information and facts.

Not true. He did blink because China did not bend. Thus the ports on the west coast are near empty, and US companies are not happy.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/china-trump-tariffs-trade-bfe18810

U.S. and China’s agreement to ratchet back retaliatory tariffs and hit a 90-day pause to talk trade sent markets soaring by taking the ugliest scenario—a messy and quick decoupling of the two economies—off the table. That doesn’t mean no damage has been done.​

​

The disruption created over the past month, and the weekend’s news, have hurt the administration’s credibility. “The Trump administration has blinked, big time,” wrote Greg Valliere, chief U.S. policy strategist at AGF Investments​

​

https://thehill.com/business/5296535-larry-summers-trump-china-tariffs/

Former Treasury Department Secretary Larry Summers said Monday that there was no question that President Trump blinked when it came to the recent agreement on a 90-day pause between the United States and China on most tariffs imposed on each other since early last month.​

​

“I think it’s very clear that it’s President Trump who blinked,” Summers told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “The Arena.” “We had said that we were determined to impose these policies for an indefinite period.”​

​

“China didn’t make any consequential or significant change in its policies,” he added.​

.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/business/economy/trump-trade-china-tariffs.html

President Trump’s decision to impose, and then walk back, triple-digit tariffs on Chinese products over the past month demonstrated the power and global reach of U.S. trade policy. But it was also another illustration of the limitations of Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach.​

​

The tariffs on Chinese goods, which the United States ratcheted up to a minimum of 145 percent in early April, brought much trade between the countries to a standstill. They caused companies to reroute business globally, importing less from China and more from other countries like Vietnam and Mexico. They forced Chinese factories to shutter, and brought some American importers to the verge of bankruptcy.​

​

The tariffs ultimately proved too painful to American businesses for Mr. Trump to sustain. Within weeks, Trump officials were saying that the tariffs the president had chosen to impose on one of America’s largest trading partners were unsustainable, and that they were angling to reduce them.​

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/business/fed-economy-stagflation-trump-tariffs.html

A temporary reprieve in trade tensions between the United States and China has reduced, but not eliminated, the odds of a shock to the economy that carries a whiff of stagflation, a top official at the Federal Reserve warned on Monday.​

​

Austan D. Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said tariffs and the uncertainty around President Trump’s policies still risked a combination of higher consumer prices and slower growth.​

​

Mr. Goolsbee welcomed the decision by the United States and China to lower tariffs on each other’s imported products for 90 days. But he said the temporary nature of the deal and the extent of the levies still in place would weigh significantly on the economy.​

 

[Bradskii]

Apparently, it looks like that you didn't read the information provided in those Newsnationnow.com links that I provided.

Yeah....Newsnation. The UFO channel. Hah. But I did. It gave exactly the same quotes from people involved that I'd read in other articles. There was the same information that you'd find anywhere. There was literally nothing in them to indicate that Trump had come out of this looking anything but someone who had folded at the earliest possible moment. Whereas what I posted was just one link that would give every reason for Trump to back down.

Empty shelves. There'd be pictures in all forms of media. Coupled with quotes from Trump that he would start to drop prices from Day One. The guy likes to think he's the biggest winner in the room. That he controls the game. Those empty shelves would put the lie to that fantasy. And I can guarantee that one interview to go with the pics would be a toy store retailer explaining why all the dolls cost a few bucks more.

So he'd have to back down then. He's have to admit he'd lost out. That his fantasy being the Artist of the Deal was empty rhetoric. Better to bail out now so he'd at least have a chance of fooling the more gullible, rusted-on supporters that this was all planned and that he really wasn't making it all up as he went.

I wonder if he's dropped the tariffs on that penguin colony yet...

 

[Vambram]

Trump did not blink. Trump and his team negotiated a good deal with promises from both China and the USA to continue working on finalizing the details of this trade deal.

Dow exits correction, Nasdaq in bull market on China-US trade progress, Live Updates

U.S. stocks soared Monday as investors celebrated major progress on a U.S.-China trade deal. The Dow added over 1,100 points, exiting correction territory, while the Nasdaq Composite began a fresh bull market. This as President Trump unveiled a plan to lower prescription drug prices before...

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[Bradskii]

Trump did not blink. Trump and his team negotiated a good deal with promises from both China and the USA to continue working on finalizing the details of this trade deal.

Dow exits correction, Nasdaq in bull market on China-US trade progress, Live Updates

U.S. stocks soared Monday as investors celebrated major progress on a U.S.-China trade deal. The Dow added over 1,100 points, exiting correction territory, while the Nasdaq Composite began a fresh bull market. This as President Trump unveiled a plan to lower prescription drug prices before...

www.foxbusiness.com

Do you know what happened to get progress on a deal? People from both sides who know what they are doing, sitting in a room for as long as it takes, bargaining, doing deals, making and asking for concessions, balancing one aspect of trade with another. Doing their best to make sure that both parties leave with something positive.

Do you know how not to do it? Or at least, not do to make what you eventually need to do as difficult as possible? Exactly what Trump did. Who then had to walk back his tariffs so that China would do the same so those people could sit in that room and act like grownups. This was a job for the adults. Instead? Well, look what you got. 'I’ve made 200 deals'.

It's what a schoolkid would say if he's being questioned on something you both know he hasn't done. You know he lied. And I know that you know that he lied.

 

[Fantine]

I called it last week. Trump knew the tariffs were disastrous and the only way out was for him to pretend he was victorious and for Americans to pretend they believe him.

 

[trophy33]

From the Chinese point of view, Trump blinked and backed down. China did not promise anything specific, not even any specific talk, just some willingness to "talk more" in the future.

 

[Pommer]

Apparently, it looks like that you didn't read the information provided in those Newsnationnow.com links that I provided.

If Lt Cmdr Scott had access to such powerful deflection, it wouldn’t have been believable.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Trump did not blink. Trump and his team negotiated a good deal with promises from both China and the USA to continue working on finalizing the details of this trade deal.

Dow exits correction, Nasdaq in bull market on China-US trade progress, Live Updates

U.S. stocks soared Monday as investors celebrated major progress on a U.S.-China trade deal. The Dow added over 1,100 points, exiting correction territory, while the Nasdaq Composite began a fresh bull market. This as President Trump unveiled a plan to lower prescription drug prices before...

www.foxbusiness.com

A good deal? Ha!

Tariffs on Chinese goods are *higher* than they were before Trump started his trade war.
Chinese tariffs on US goods are *higher* than they were before Trump started his trade war.

It's a *90-day pause* and then things go back up (or it gets extended, or whatever) so more tariff level uncertainty for any company looking to import or manufacture goods in China for sale in the near future (basically anything for the rest of this year).

 

[Pommer]

A good deal? Ha!

It's a *90-day pause* and then things go back up (or it gets extended, or whatever) so more tariff level uncertainty for any company looking to import or manufacture goods in China for sale in the near future (basically anything for the rest of this year).

That the “90-day pause” just happens to coincide with the heart of the golfing season, is yet another win due to serendipity.
Yup.

 

[sjastro]

The 90 day truce involves the U.S. lowering tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, while China will reduce tariffs on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%. Did anyone else notice China's agreement to lower its tariff to 1/3 the US tariff reflects the fact the China imports 1/3 (1/2.9 to be exact) of US goods compared to China goods imported into the US?
The Chinese have played Trump's idiotic idea of equating trade imbalances with tariffs as it indicates they have the upper hand in the trade war, its willingness to lower its tariffs to well below US tariffs is a major propaganda victory as it is telling the rest of the world it is more committed to open trade compared to U.S. protectionism policies.

Trump clearly did blink and is the latest in a series of disasters which includes a failure to strike a trade deal with the Heard and McDonald islands penguins.

 

[Nithavela]

30 % tarrifs only looks low to you because of the preceeding moon-high tarrifs of 145 percent. 30 % added to everything imported from China will still greatly reduce the spending power of americans and significantly affect the economy.

 

[Valletta]

A good deal? Ha!

Tariffs on Chinese goods are *higher* than they were before Trump started his trade war.
Chinese tariffs on US goods are *higher* than they were before Trump started his trade war.

It's a *90-day pause* and then things go back up (or it gets extended, or whatever) so more tariff level uncertainty for any company looking to import or manufacture goods in China for sale in the near future (basically anything for the rest of this year).

The reduction in tariffs for China It does mean the U.S. will take in less money in tariffs. So too American companies will no longer see that surge of orders:

American Manufacturers Overwhelmed With Orders After Trump’s Tariff Crackdown On China

American manufacturers are seeing a surge in demand as President Donald Trump’s tariffs force companies to reconsider doing business in China.

dailycaller.com

But the idea is to get the best deal overall, and with China that means stopping the flow of fentanyl ingredients to North America, stopping China from stealing U.S. intellectual property, and stopping them from cheating in so many ways.