Who is Winning Trump’s Trade War with China?

September 25, 2019

Trump took the U.S. Constructional mandated Oath of Office (and he has repeatedly violated that Oath of Office) to become President of the United States on January 20, 2017.

  • In 2016, the United States exported $115,594,800,000, in good to China and imported $462,420,000,000 from China. [- $346,825,200,000]
  • In 2018, the United States exported $120,148,100,000, in good to China and imported $539,675,600,000 from China. [- $419,527,400,000] – United States Census Bureau

Do the math. Since Trump has been President of the United States, the imbalance in trade between China and the United States has increased by more than $72.7 billion dollars.

The Balance.com says, “China can produce many consumer goods at lower costs than other countries can. Americans, of course, want these goods for the lowest prices. … If the United States implemented trade protectionism, U.S. consumers would have to pay high prices for their ‘Made in America’ goods. It’s unlikely that the trade deficit will change. Most people would rather pay as little as possible for computers, electronics, and clothing, even if it means other Americans lose their jobs.”

Then we learn from the South China Morning Post that “Donald Trump’s trade war tariffs on China failing to bring jobs and manufacturing back to the US

“There is a clear sign that in the trade war between the US and China, the winner is not going to be the US and it’s not going to be China,” Breteau said. The winners are “going to be Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and very likely Mexico and Bangladesh”.

What is China doing to counter this loss? The World Bank tells us about the significant policy adjustments required for China’s growth to be sustainable. “China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) addresses these issues. It highlights the development of services and measures to address environmental and social imbalances, setting targets to reduce pollution, to increase energy efficiency, to improve access to education and healthcare, and to expand social protection. The 13th Five-Year Plan’s annual growth target is 6.5%, reflecting the rebalancing of the economy and the focus on the quality of growth while maintaining the objective of achieving a ‘moderately prosperous society’ by 2020 (doubling GDP for 2010-2020).”

In addition, according to McKinsey.com, “[Chinese] Consumers remain the key driver of China’s domestic growth (not the United States), creating 78 percent of GDP growth in the first nine months of 2018.” … For instance, “Sales of China’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) grew by 6.3 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, and even supermarkets have grown by 5.0 percent. Across fresh foods, alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, and more, ten times as many consumers report trading up to higher-priced goods than down.”


Meet China’s New Middle Class representing 30-percent of the total Middle Class in China

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.

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The Peasant Cult that Defeated the Yuan Dynasty

October 11, 2016

Religions, as Christians, Jews and Muslims practice them, have seldom played a major role in Chinese Culture and Politics. Even today, more than 800 million Chinese say they don’t belong to any religion and the largest religion in China is Buddhism with about 10% of the population.  Even during Imperial times, most members of government didn’t belong to organized religions. The same is true today with the Chinese Communist Party.

China’s struggle with pagan cults (for instance, the White Lotus Society) stretches back almost a thousand years. The White Lotus Society appealed to poor Han Chinese peasants and more so to women, who found peace in worshiping the Eternal Mother, Wusheng Laomu. It was believed that this Eternal Mother would gather all her children at the millennium into one family.

White Lotus Societies started out seeking tranquility through a combination of Buddhism with some elements of Daoism (Taoism) and other native Chinese religions. Even in the 12th century, the Yuan Dynasty was distrustful of the Yellow Lotus Society, which didn’t fit comfortably with Confucianism.

Persecution of the White Lotus Society started during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368 AD), the first dynasty that was not led by the Han Chinese. Due to this, the White Lotus Society changed from one of peace and tranquility and organized protests to violence against the Mongol rulers.

Since Yuan Imperial authorities distrusted the White Lotus Society, the Dynasty banned them, and the White Lotus went underground.  The White Lotus predicted that a messianic, Christ like figure would come and save them from persecution. That man was Zhu Yuanzhang, a Buddhist monk.

The White Lotus led revolution started in 1352 near Guangzhou before Zhu Yuanzhang joined the rebellion. But soon, he became the leader by forbidding his soldiers to pillage in observance of White Lotus religious beliefs.

By 1355, the rebellion had spread through much of China. In 1356, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Nanjing and made it his capital. Then Confucian scholars issued pronouncements supporting Zhu’s claim of the Mandate of Heaven, the first step toward establishing a new dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang liberated China from the Mongols and became the founding Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1643). Known as the Hongwu emperor, he was cruel, suspicious, and irrational, behavior that grew worse as he aged.

Discover Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the unique love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

#1 - Joanna Daneman review Updated August 26 - 2016_edited-2

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China’s Holistic Historical Timeline