1. The United States is likely to be in greater need to strike a trade truce with China than the other way around as the 2020 election and a possible economic slowdown weigh heavily on US President Donald Trump, an economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial group said on Friday..... Despite Trump’s repeated claim that China “badly” wants a deal, “the recent concessions, in my view, were initiated by the US”, said Halpenny…. 2. Well, after reading the article -- a "halpenny" for your thoughts? Trump has bragged that his tariffs will help win a trade war, claiming repeatedly that China is "now paying us billions of dollars in tariffs". He boasted: "We're winning big because we have created an economy that is second to none." Despite his endless bragging, it is not surprising that Trump will try to get "a truce or kind of a partial deal” that will smooth his way for his reelection in 2020. However, it will be a one-sided deal or concession for China to purchase a lot of soybeans and other agricultural products. The only so-called "concession" or "gesture of goodwill" by Trump may be just the delay of more tariffs. Trump is now "a lame-duck president" or a "bounced cheque". Any concrete concession made by him could be thwarted immediately by bipartisan extremists like Nancy Pelosi and Latino Republican Senator Marco Rubio through legislations. Don't be mistaken, however, that Trump is less extremist than other US nationalists. What's uppermost in his mind now is definitely his reelection in 2020. According to the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a president can serve only two terms or 8 years in office. If he could be reelected in 2020, he would have no worry to escalate the trade war to whatever level he likes. Moreover, any Chinese concession or "gesture of goodwill" could be viewed by those traitors or "soulless zombies" in Hong Kong as weakness, and this could embolden them to escalate their riots there.
