• xiaohongshu [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    17 hours ago

    My opinion is very different. I think Trump is trying to surrender America to China, that’s why he chose Elon Musk, who has A LOT to gain from having friendly terms with China. Even Trump’s first term hugely advantaged China under all the anti-China rhetoric. Biden’s policies, on the other hand, have been extremely hawkish and aggressive in comparison.

    Trump knows that bringing jobs back to America is an impossibility, and that America’s best hope of surviving economically long-term as a great power is to rely on China. However, it would play very badly if America is to openly concede to being No. 2, and the neocons will not let him do this.

    That’s why he has to ramp up the anti-China rhetoric, while negotiating to let Tik Tok back into the American market. That’s the only way Americans can accept the inevitable outcome without losing it: “we’re still number one, we’re just telling China that they have to give us back things they have been robbing from us all these years. it’s not wrong to use Chinese goods, because they owe us anyway!”

    Trump is very good at framing defeat as though he is the actual winner, he’s the one who had wanted it to happen in the first place. And his supporters ate that shit up. As the saying goes: “only Trump can surrender to China.” And I think there is a lot of truth to that.

    • anarchoilluminati [comrade/them]
      ·
      17 hours ago

      I think Trump is trying to surrender America to China

      Based Comrade Trump?

      That would be really funny, but not sure how true that is. Isn't TikTok not even Chinese? I thought that was just a Right-wing talking point. And Musk benefits the most from Chinese EVs being blocked, although I hope they do lift that.

      • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
        ·
        14 hours ago

        TikTok Ltd is based in Singapore and owned by ByteDance Ltd which is incorporated in the Cayman Islands but headquartered in Beijing. The US version of TikTok is maintained by USDS which is based in Texas. So I believe the CPC has members of the ByteDance board and can make changes from the top down, but it's not technically a Chinese company.

      • xiaohongshu [none/use name]
        ·
        17 hours ago

        Tesla Shanghai churned out 1 million vehicles in just 13 months in 2023. The future of Tesla’s production is in China, not America. No way Elon doesn’t know that. If he can get preferential treatment in China, his made-in-China EVs will be competitive.

        Besides, Teslas are still the most popular pure EV model in their segments in China. It’s true that Chinese domestic EVs (especially hybrids) have slaughtered all foreign brands in the lower tier models, but Tesla is not competing on those segments.

        • anarchoilluminati [comrade/them]
          ·
          14 hours ago

          But why on earth would China give Tesla preferential treatment when their own Chinese EVs were banned in the US market to benefit Tesla?

          • xiaohongshu [none/use name]
            ·
            edit-2
            1 hour ago

            Biden was the one who imposed the tariffs on Chinese EVs. Trump cannot unilaterally remove the tariff because that’d make America look weak.

            And it would be beneficial for both parties: America removes the tariff on EV while Tesla gets preferential treatment in China, while China gets to receive foreign investment from US capital and access to American market. China likes win-win strategies, and Trump is going to give them that.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.ml
      hexagon
      ·
      17 hours ago

      I'm cautiously optimistic that may be the case as well. It's also worth noting that it's not just Elon that would be invested in this, but also many large tech corps like Apple and Nvidia. Their business model is entirely dependent on China, and these companies are load bearing pillars of the current US economy. If they crash then the US economy will start to unravel.

      • SkingradGuard [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        17 hours ago

        Honestly I'm not convinced. The anti-China brainworms ramped up considerably in his last term, more so than usual. Under Biden it's become even worse. Trump needs an external enemy and China has been his target for a while.

        • xiaohongshu [none/use name]
          ·
          17 hours ago

          Trump invited Xi to attend his inauguration. From the perspective of a businessman (both Trump and Musk are, no matter how shitty of a businessman they have been), it makes sense to normalize relations with China in a way that would be acceptable to the huge ego of American exceptionalism.

          Biden is a pure ideologue. He does not care about doing businesses. He wants war.