Trump threatened to "substantially" increase tariffs on China again during an economic speech in New York yesterday afternoon and I think we know specifically why he did that now.
As you know, Trump claimed that China would buy $50 billion in American farm goods in what he described as his "greatest and biggest deal ever," but that was his promise, not China's promise. China never publicly or privately agreed to buy more farm goods than what market conditions and consumer demand would support.
The Wall Street Journal reported this afternoon that China won't formally commit to such large purchases and there's still no agreement on structural issues.
The high-stakes trade negotiations between the U.S. and China hit a snag over Chinese purchases of American agriculture products and other core issues, according to the Wall Street Journal.
China has agreed to buy up to $50 billion in U.S. farm goods as part of the so-called phase one trade deal, President Donald Trump claimed last month. But the WSJ reported China is hesitant to commit to a specific amount of agricultural products.
Beijing is showing also resistance over U.S. demands for more tech transfer restrictions and a strong enforcement mechanism for the deal, according to the WSJ, citing people familiar with the trade talks.
It certainly appears that Trump threatened China in his speech yesterday because they aren't living up to fake promises that he made. He's trying to intimidate them into following through on his own bullshit.
Trump regime officials including Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow continue to say they've made "progress" in trade talks, but to say they've made progress feels effectively meaningless because we don't know how they're measuring progress. Is it progress if Ron Vara Peter Navarro does not literally light his hair on fire?
Each time it outwardly appears that some small measure of progress has been achieved, we later learn that was not necessarily the case.
The current situation and all the reporting surrounding it are starting to appear very similar to what caused previous rounds of talks to collapse.