Shaun Rein on trade with China: "I'm hopeful that Trump is going to realize the pragmatism"

I also think that Trump is pragmatic and he's going to see U.S.-China trade eventually is good for the American population.  If you look at it, inflation is a major problem in the United States right now.  Partially it's because what I consider to be an irresponsibly loose monetary policy by the Fed in the last five years during the Covid era where we've added - almost doubled - almost $18 trillion to the American deficit.  Part of it is because of high energy prices from Russia because of the Russia-Ukraine war.  But a large part of it is tariffs.  It's no surprise that there's major inflation in the United States when there's tariffs on $350 billion of Chinese-made goods.

I'm hopeful that Trump is going to realize the pragmatism.  If you look at it, in the United States the average SUV costs $43,000.  The average sedan costs $38,000.  BYD, a Chinese NEV maker, just announced that their $9,000 model.  It's going to have full autonomous driving as good, if not better than Tesla.  Wouldn't it be great for the everyday American is they could buy a $9,000 car from BYD and that would help solve the massive inflation problem that's hitting the United States.

[...]

I'm hopeful that under Trump that an accommodation can be made, that a trade deal can be made.  I'm not sure it's going to happen in year one, I'm not sure it's going to happen in year two or even in year three, but Trump has a pathological need to say that he got a trade deal and he beat the Chinese.  And I think he's going to say that to the American population even if it's not really a defeat of China, but it's more of a win-win deal.

~ Shaun Rein, "Why China Brushes Off Trump's Tariffs," Thinkers Forum, 10:30 mark, March 1, 2025

BYD Seagull EV