China wonders which Trump it will be dealing with

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, June 29, 2019. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP On the trade front, Donald Trump’s four years in power, from 2016 to 2020, were for China, the leading exporting power on the planet, an execrable moment. But the personal relationship had not been bad between Xi Jinping and this man who treats in the same way a democratically elected leader or a leader of an authoritarian state who theorized the need to put an end to American domination. “I had a very strong relationship with him,” Donald Trump said in October, speaking of Xi Jinping, whom he had previously described as a “brilliant guy”. Follow our live | Live, US presidential election 2024: Kamala Harris to speak at 10 p.m.; follow the reactions to Donald Trump’s victory Read later When the blond president landed on the tarmac of Beijing airport in November 2017, a year after his first election, the People’s Republic of China was able to receive him in a big way pomp, in contrast to the last visit of his predecessor, Barack Obama, who had to take the internal staircase of Air Force One, due to the lack of a red carpet walkway provided by the Chinese. On his route, Donald Trump was enthusiastic at the sight of children waving the flags of the two nations. “Wow,” the Associated Press reporter heard him exclaim. Then, in the Forbidden City, where Xi received him, the president of this young country asked his counterpart if it was true that China has five thousand years of history. China carefully studied Donald Trump then and has continued to do so ever since. But what will Trump face now that he has likely been elected to another term? More than any other country, China knows how to seduce the oversized egos of its interlocutors, but, also more than any other, it is exposed to the risks of trade conflicts. Deliveries abroad constitute an essential driver for its factories and jobs since exports covered 19% of its GDP in 2023. “Trade war” However, during the campaign, the Mar-a-Lago golfer promised to tax 60% of all Chinese products entering American soil, a measure which would prove critical at a time when Chinese growth is slowing and the domestic market is not there. Is it a coincidence that the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party are meeting from November 4 to 8 to announce the scale of a recovery plan which should only be presented on Friday, once the results of the American elections are known? You have 61.21% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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