It took them long enough, but it appears the Chinese have finally had enough of Donald Trump’s BS.
For months, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination has made China one of his favorite punching bags.
Almost daily, the man who places a bright, orange ferret on his head claims that China is waging “economic war” against the US by stealing it’s jobs.
“They’ve taken our jobs, they’ve taken our money,” the billionaire has said many times. “We can’t continue to be ripped off like we’re being ripped off.”
Considering how thin-skinned Chinese President Xi Jinping is, it’s amazing how little China’s tightly-controlled state media has punched back. It’s largely stuck to reporting the facts about Trump
But it wasn’t the blatant racism or vague attacks on China stealing jobs and such, that made Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei react and call the Donald “irrational.” No, it came down to cold hard dollars and yuan. Specifically, Trump’s proposal to raise tariffs on imported Chinese goods by as much as 45%.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Lou said, “Trump is an irrational type. If he were to do this, that would be in violation of the rules set by the World Trade Organization.”
Lou said that if the US put Trump’s proposal into effect, it “would not be entitled to its position as the world’s major power. The US needs to recognize that the US and China are mutually dependent on each other. Our economic cycles are intertwined.”
But last month, at a New York Campaign event, Trump accused China of not allowing free trade. “The 45% (tariff) is a threat that if they don’t behave, if they don’t follow the rules and regulations so that we can have it equal on both sides, we will tax you,” he said.
Not surprisingly, Ted Cruz, Trump’s rival for the Republican nomination, essentially said the plan was stupid.
China is the United States’ largest trading partner. Last year, the US reported a trade deficit of $366 billion with China. That was up from $343 billion in 2014 – the largest U.S. trade imbalance with any nation For the first two months of 2016, the deficit is up nearly 12% to $57 billion.