‘Wishful thinking’: Chinese newspaper rips Trump’s belief he’s winning trade war

A Chinese-state run newspaper blasted President Trump’s tariffs in an editorial, calling out the president’s thinking that drops in the Chinese stock market shows that the trade measures are successful.

Reuters reported Monday that the official China Daily editorial responded to Trump’s tweet citing drops in Chinese stocks as showing that “tariffs are working far better than anyone anticipated,” calling the belief “wishful thinking.”

Tariffs are working far better than anyone ever anticipated. China market has dropped 27% in last 4months, and they are talking to us. Our market is stronger than ever, and will go up dramatically when these horrible Trade Deals are successfully renegotiated. America First…….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018

The newspaper argued that the tariffs were not effective, noting that the Chinese stock market had been suffering before the tariffs and that the U.S. trade deficit had increased by $3 billion in June.

{mosads}

Reuters reported that the Chinese government often uses the English-language newspaper to send global messages.

The editorial marks a sea change in the official Chinese response to Trump’s tariffs: A leaked propaganda notice from last month urged media to not report on Trump’s comments and to not “attack Trump’s vulgarity; don’t make this a war of insults.”

The U.S. and China have engaged in an escalating trade war in recent months. Each country has levied tariffs on billions worth of the other’s products, with China most recently announcing on Friday that it would impose retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. imports after the Trump administration announced plans to raise tariff levels on Chinese goods.