As China announces a new round of retaliatory tariffs in response to Himself’s escalation of his petulant and pointless trade war, a key component of his base appears to be tiring of his trade policies.
No, not US farmers. Middle-class Chinese.
For months, many in the country’s vast industrial/management class have been criticizing their own government’s responses to Trump’s trade moves.
Members of the middle class, a force of as many as 400 million people in both blue-collar jobs and professional roles, per government estimates, had been posting criticism of Xi’s leadership online, particularly when it came to his dealings with the United States, said Cheng Li, a contemporary China scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
The unease came as the country’s stock markets plunged nearly 24 percent from January peaks and the Chinese currency dropped almost 10 percent against the dollar this year amid the trade tensions. Rising rent, debt and grocery store prices also played into citizens’ concerns.
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The government’s response: a coordinated message campaign that boils down to, “Hey, we’re trying to be the grownups in the room, but this guy’s nuts.”
And, because of Wilson moves like announcing new tariffs just as China’s negotiators show a willingness to come back to the table and tweeting Ken doll megalomania like
Chinese public opinion has shifted rapidly and dramatically against the “greedy and crazy” American president. From commodity brokers to retail shoppers, people are seeking new, non-American sources as a matter of patriotic pride, even if it means paying more.
“Before we used Apple, but now we’ve changed to Huawei,” she said of the Chinese phone maker. “It makes you emotional like that.”
Economic decisions, large and small, are emotional and personal as much as they are rational, and emotional associations linger much longer than the circumstances that create them.
Chinese importers have already begun establishing new, long-term suppliers for American commodities and now, thanks to Trump’s tiny thumbs, Chinese consumers may be joining them.
Heck of a job, Orange-y.