Subject: Re: China turns a US trading partner screw
He didn't say that every action that strengthened China's position in the world was taken by Trump.

He said that every action taken by Trump has strengthened China's position in the world.

He made a sarcastic post so I responded in kind.

You've made these points and I understand your perspective. I don't actually disagree with you on a lot of it.

However, the status quo isn't acceptable by any measure *especially* if one is concerned about
-the rate of growth of China's military
-their stated position of wanted Taiwan under their flag
-their repeated demonstration of bad behavior in the South China Sea
-their ruthless exploitation of other nations in service of their broader strategy

Yes, Trump's approach is too broad brush and likely a big gamble. However, we should withhold judgement until we see if anything comes from the first round of negotiations. Vance just announced that India and the US agreed to a new framework, for example.

What this board needs to understand is that Europe's "Sophistication" on nuance diplomacy...those days are long gone. We can't count on them as a forward thinking partner any longer (and haven't been able to for at least a decade).