PDB Situation Report | April 12th, 2025: Can China Survive A Tariff War? & Russia Launches Spring Offensive
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What led to President Trump's tariff changes on China?
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. It's been a crazy week, if you haven't noticed. I suspect you've noticed. We'll kick things off with President Trump doing a U-turn on global tariffs, but not when it comes to China. In fact, he's ramping things up, slapping a 104% tariff on Chinese goods. And Beijing, well, they're already retaliating. Gordon Chang joins us to talk about what this economic showdown means for China and for us. Later in the show, we'll bring you the latest from the battlefield. Both Russia and Ukraine have reportedly launched new offensives, raising the stakes on multiple fronts.
How is China retaliating against U.S. tariffs?
George Boros from the Institute for the Study of War, he joins us with the latest on where things stand and where they could be headed. But first, today's Situation Report Spotlight. The past week has been a wild ride. That's putting it mildly. Markets bounced around as President Trump hit pause on his global tariff push, except when it comes to China. After Beijing fired back with 84% tariffs on U.S. goods, Trump responded with a brutal 104% tariff on Chinese imports. That one's still in place. Now, this could spell serious trouble for China. Their economy depends heavily on exports, and if those slow down, well, the pain could run deep. But just how much damage are we talking? Joining us now is someone who's been warning about this for years.
And that, of course, would be good friend of the show, Gordon Chang. He's the author of Plan Red, China's Project to Destroy America. And you can check him out on apps at Gordon G. Chang. Gordon, thanks very much again for joining us here on The Situation Report. Always excellent to talk to you. We've been on a roller coaster ride here when it comes to tariffs, particularly with China.
What are the implications of the tariff war for China's economy?
Give me your sort of your 30,000 foot view on what's been taking place over the past week or so and where you think it might be going.
A lot of presidents have let the China trade matters slide, and Trump had the courage to take this on. We hold all the high cards. We're the bigger economy. China is the trade surplus country. They ran a $295.4 billion merchandise trade surplus with us last year. So they've got everything to lose, and we don't. But Xi Jinping believes that he can intimidate President Trump into surrendering preemptively because they're trying to get Wall Street, C-Suite, Main Street to put pressure on Trump to cave in. I don't think Trump will do that because we know on Wednesday, Trump imposed tariffs of 145% on China. And that's a real demonstration of political will. I think the Chinese are going to take a long time to come to the table. This is going to be a lot of friction, a lot of tension, but we need to get this done and we need to get this done on our terms.
What do you think they make or how do they interpret the pause? The 90 day pause has just been put into place. Do they look at that as a sign of weakness on the White House's part or are they interpreting it in some other fashion, do you think?
I think that they understood that Trump reacted to the bond market by the Japanese dumping bonds. So that's one way. But I think ultimately, they realized there's a real danger in this. And that is, the US is going to come to terms with a lot of countries. Japan, South Korea, the EU. That's going to leave China out in the cold. Because as senior Trump officials have been saying this week, those countries that come to terms with us early are going to get the best deals. And China is sitting on the outside because they can't pick up the phone, which means they're going to be pretty much in trouble. Remember, these guys in Beijing, they're not going to be selling a lot of stuff to the US because of the 145% tariff.
That means they're going to dump their products on other markets. Other markets, they're just not going to accept this flood of Chinese products because they cannot see their own manufacturing sectors being decimated. So China is in a really difficult position because it is now more export dependent than it has ever been.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What led to President Trump's tariff changes on China?
0:12–0:55
2
How is China retaliating against U.S. tariffs?
0:55–2:05
3
What are the implications of the tariff war for China's economy?
2:05–14:26
4
How is Xi Jinping's political power being challenged?
14:26–42:53
5
What are the current developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict?
42:53–44:54
6
How does Putin's strategy affect the potential for peace?
44:54
7
What is the future of U.S.-China relations amidst the tariff war?
16:04–17:40
8
What potential outcomes can arise from escalating tensions?
17:40–49:33
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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