Donald Trump's brinkmanship with China has already dramatically backfired after realizing the damage

it would do to the United States. Economy Trump has already exempted smartphones and other electronics

from his 145% tariffs. What's more, the US has belatedly realized the damage China can cause

if it halts exports of the materials and parts which are essential to US production.

China has already halted the export of rare earths and magnets needed for the car and semiconductor

industries, and China has now stopped exporting the jets. Boeing needs to build its commercial

airplanes. So how did Trump get his trade war so wrong? Well, on the one hand, the answer is simple.

Donald Trump is a moron. But the Harvard trained economist, Kiu Jin, thinks there's something deeper

going on. Namely, not just Trump, but rather the entire Western political establishment just

doesn't understand what's happening in Beijing and how strong

the Chinese economy has become. Kei Jin is currently professor of economics at the London School of

Economics and she's the author of the new China playbook beyond socialism and capitalism.

Kei Jin is also a Chinese national and she spoke to me from Beijing, and I began by asking whether she thinks China has already won Trump's trade war.

No one really wins from a trade war and China is actually very not interested in engaging in any kind of trade war, but really is pushed into the stance of resistance, even fighting until the end, as the

leaders say.

It's very interesting, the perspective from inside China, where I am right now, where there's

an almost consensus, almost consensus, whether it's the government or the people, then this is

the right strategy

to deal with Trump. Stay strong, hit the U.S. where it hurts until you can bring them back

to rational dialogue. So there has been almost no debate about the fact that China has

done these retaliatory tariffs and has held their position.

Yeah, and I wanted to know, actually, about attitudes in China to the trade war.

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