‘We Had A Bad Experience’: Chinese Officials Losing Sleep Over Thought Of Dealing With Second Trump Term

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials quietly believe that a second Donald Trump presidency would be more dangerous to them than a Kamala Harris administration, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The Biden-Harris administration’s relationship with Beijing has been marred with tensions in recent years over diplomatic, economic and national security disputes. But Chinese officials would seemingly still rather have Harris win in November over Trump because they worry that the former president will open up another trade war against China, officials told the WSJ.

“Chinese officials and scholars, in private conversations over many months, are largely exceptionally wary of a Trump victory,” Richard McGregor, China expert at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, told the WSJ.

Those worries are largely kept quiet. Publicly, Chinese officials maintain a stance of neutrality toward the U.S. elections. Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote in a letter last week that China had always handled relations with the U.S. with “mutual respect” and said that Beijing “is willing to work with the United States as partners and friends.”

“The presidential elections are the United States’ own affairs,” a spokesman from the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We hope that whoever gets elected will be committed to growing sound and stable China-U.S. ties.”

Beijing wants whoever the next president is to take a predictable stance toward relations and dial back the U.S.’ tough-on-China stance. Privately, officials felt that standard was better reflected in President Joe Biden over Trump and thought his reelection would be better for China, according to the WSJ.

After Biden dropped out of the race in July, Beijing felt the same about Harris, officials told the WSJ.

“Under Trump, we had a bad experience,” senior CCP diplomat Liu Jianchao bemoaned during a closed-door session with U.S. think tanks earlier in the year.

The concerns of a second Trump term among Chinese officials stem from fears he will launch a second trade war against China, as he did in his first term, according to the WSJ.

Trump issued a sweeping set of tariffs against China during his first term — adding a tax to imports coming in from the country — in a bid to encourage domestic U.S. investment and compel China to buy more American goods.

Xi and those and his orbit became exhausted in trying to maneuver the trade war and Trump’s demands, according to the WSJ. Trump has weighed the idea in his second term to issue a 60% tariff against incoming Chinese goods, which economists at UBS have predicted could mark a 2.5% blow to China’s GDP growth over a year-long period.

Trump has also recently weighed the idea of using the threat of tariffs to deter China from invading Taiwan, even musing that he would completely halt trade relations if the island is taken by force, which has been received extremely poorly in Beijing.

“I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you”—meaning impose tariffs—“at 150% to 200%,” Trump told the WSJ in an interview on Thursday.

The Trump and Harris campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Related Topics:#DailyCaller #JakeSmith #USElection CCPTrumpPresidency ChinaTrump USChinaTradeRelations

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Ottawa Appoints Former Trudeau Intelligence Adviser as “Fentanyl Czar”

Published on February 12, 2025

Todayville

Sam Cooper

Late Tuesday, Justin Trudeau’s administration appointed former RCMP deputy commissioner Kevin Brosseau as Canada’s new “fentanyl czar”—a role created as part of a last-minute deal to avert a major trade war with the United States.

As the government’s lead on the file, Brosseau is tasked with working closely with U.S. counterparts and law enforcement agencies to “accelerate Canada’s ongoing work to detect, disrupt, and dismantle the fentanyl trade,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The scourge of fentanyl must be wiped from the face of the Earth, its production must be shut down, and its profiteers must be punished,” the statement continued.

Brosseau, who recently served as deputy national security and intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reportedly brings extensive experience in drug enforcement and organized crime investigations.

“His demonstrated expertise tackling drug trafficking, organized crime networks, and other national security threats will bring tremendous value to this position,” the government statement added.

Financial Fallout: Banks Face Heightened Scrutiny

While the Fentanyl Czar is a major pillar of Trudeau’s promised plan, the most controversial measures are yet to come, including a plan to designate cartels as terrorist organizations. Experts believe that this move could have sweeping impacts on Canada’s financial sector.

Canadian banks, which have long faced criticism for weak anti-money laundering enforcement, may soon face heightened scrutiny, stricter compliance measures, and increased risk exposure. The new designation could lead to U.S. law enforcement aggressively tracking cartel-linked transactions in Canada, with potential repercussions for financial institutions that fail to act.

The Fentanyl Czar appointment is part of a broader $1.3 billion border security plan, which includes:

New helicopters and advanced surveillance technology
Increased personnel at critical border points
Closer coordination with U.S. agencies to disrupt fentanyl trafficking

“I just had a good call with President Trump,” Trudeau wrote on February 3, announcing that his administration had secured a temporary reprieve from U.S. trade penalties. “Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border.”

Trudeau also outlined plans to:

Designate cartels as terrorist organizations
Implement 24/7 surveillance of high-risk border crossings
Launch a Canada–U.S. Joint Strike Force targeting organized crime and money laundering
Sign a new $200 million intelligence directive focused on fentanyl

With Trump’s sweeping 25% tariffs on Canadian exports still looming, the coming weeks will test whether Ottawa’s promised fentanyl crackdown satisfies Washington—or if Canada’s financial institutions and urban real estate markets, deeply exposed to fentanyl money laundering according to U.S. and Canadian experts, become the next battleground.

More to come.

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Business

Trump signs order forcing agencies to work with DOGE

Published on February 11, 2025

Todayville

From The Center Square

By Casey Harper

Billionaire Elon Musk joined President Donald Trump in the oval office Tuesday as the president signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to work with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

The order will require federal agencies to work with DOGE to significantly reduce their labor force.

A White House fact sheet, first reported by Semafor, says the order requires agencies hire “no more than one employee for every four employees” that are fired, with some exceptions, including for public safety and law enforcement.

DOGE and Musk have dominated the news cycle since Trump took office by exposing an onslaught of controversial federal spending, most notably as USAID, an agency that has been all but destroyed since Trump took office.

While with his young son Lil X, Musk spoke to reporters about DOGE’s efforts to instill what he calls “common sense controls” on federal spending.

“If the people cannot vote and have their will be decided by their elected representatives, by the form of the President, the Senate, and the House, then we don’t live in a democracy,” Musk said. “We live in a bureaucracy.”

The national debt is on track to hit $37 trillion this year, and interest payments on the debt are now one of the largest federal expenses.

Trump touted the cuts to corruption and “kickbacks” in the government when speaking to reporters.

“The public gets it,” Trump said.

Musk responded to criticisms that the agency cuts are a “hostile takeover.”

“The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk said. “That’s what democracy is all about.”