With Donald Trump’s call with the president of Taiwan, the China issue is front and center with the new Trump administration as we all expected. There are many different reactions to this call, but the key here is that Trump is going to challenge this relationship, but most of us have no idea where this can go. He will push them on trade, and we have the North Korea issue, and now he is tweaking the Chinese government about Taiwan. Expect chaos . . .
With the unlikely election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, the outlook for global trade has suddenly become much more unpredictable. The US has some very legitimate grievances when it comes to China’s trade practices and currency manipulation, but just how far will Donald Trump push these issues. Will he overplay his hand? Will we have a trade war between the US and China? Will China retaliate by dumping US Treasuries?
The video above offers a helpful summary of the challenges facing China’s economy, which is slowing after decades of rapid growth.
The challenges are real, but there’s a question as to whether China’s leadership under Xi Jinping is up to the task. Loosening the grips of the government is required, but Xi is going in the opposite direction.
We Chat has become a very popular app in China, with one reason being you can do so much from the app as explained above. Now Silicon Valley is taking notice and being “inspired” by the app, as even Mark Zuckerberg seems to have noticed. Expect Facebook Messenger to start having much of the same functionality as WeChat.
The stupidity of Chinese leadership and Xi Jinping regime seems to know no bounds:
China’s ruling Communist Party has banned its 88 million members from playing golf, having sex outside of marriage and partaking in “extravagant eating and drinking,” according to the country’s state media.
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