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President Trump Says They Broke the Truce: “So Much For Mr. NICE GUY!”

President Trump completely blew his top today, exploding on his Truth Social account in China’s direction.

At least that’s the way his social media post hit me.

He began with quickly setting the stage, detailing the “FAST DEAL” he made with the Chinese leadership on trade and tariffs.

And things were going well, according to the President’s post.

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Until they weren’t.

Now, President Trump is TYPING IN ALL CAPS and promising President Xi that he wouldn’t be so nice to deal with from here on out.

Here’s the President’s fiery post:

And here’s the full text of his angry message in case that’s hard to read:

Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, “civil unrest.” I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!

A lot of the mainstream media has actually reported on this post, and presumed to be flabbergasted — as if they couldn’t figure out which “agreement” he was referencing.

These are the same people that told us Biden was running laps around the south lawn of the White House, challenging staff to multiple chess games at a time, and planning a cover shoot for Men’s Health because he’s just that badass and healthy.

In other words, the mainstream media is hoping that the rest of us are as nearsighted as Kamala Harris was on the morning of Nov. 5th last year.

Of course he’s talking about tariffs and trade!  He even SAYS SO in the post!  The media just loves trying to make it look like President Trump is somehow as incoherent and off kilter as Biden.

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On one hand, some are taking this to mean President Trump is ready to park aircraft carriers in the Yellow Sea, line up Chinese diplomats before firing squads in front of the Chinese embassy, and hoist the “No Quarter” flag over the White House.

He may not be ready to strap on a buckler and a two-edged battle axe to get it on, but I agree with that post.

Buckle up, because it’s obvious there’s been a shift in the self-imposed limits he’s been operating by up to this point.

At the same time, he very reasonably expressed hope that he and President Xi Jinping would come to a new understanding when questioned later in the day, as reported by The Hill:

President Donald Trump said Friday that he will no longer be “Mr. NICE GUY” with China on trade, declaring in a social media post that the country had broken an agreement with the United States.

Hours later, Trump said in the Oval Office that he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping and “hopefully we’ll work that out,” while still insisting China had violated the agreement.

The comments reflect the tensions between the world’s two largest economies, as Trump is eager to show that his tariffs can deliver meaningful results in the form of U.S. factory jobs and increased domestic investment.

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That has been compounded by a court ruling this week that Trump had overstepped his legal authority with broad “Liberation Day” tariffs in April as well as import taxes on China, Canada and Mexico tied to fentanyl smuggling earlier this year. A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed Trump to temporarily keep collecting the tariffs under an emergency powers law while he appeals the earlier decision.

As for the court fight mentioned in that article, I gave a good overview of where that court fight stands over the President’s power to leverage tariffs yesterday.

This will bring you up to speed and point out the REAL story to be watching beneath the surface of the tariff issue in terms of US governance, if you missed it:

NOT SO FAST: Court SLAMS BREAKS on Ruling Impacting Presidential Powers!

But there is something else in play besides tariffs, and that's the technology race.

It's getting far less airtime than the tariffs themselves, but track with me here -- and we'll connect the dots.

Less than three weeks ago, both the Secretary of the Treasury and the foremost trade official for the US -- Jamieson Greer, who heads the Office of the US Trade Representative -- gave great news.

President Trump's "Liberation Day" trade war with China had essentially come to an end, with that "fast agreement" the President touted in his angry post earlier today.

Secretary Bessent was short-spoken in announcing the agreement:

While US Trade Representative Greer was a little more detailed in characterizing the agreement as "constructive".

Here was his remarks announcing the "tariff truce" on May 11th alongside Secretary Bessent:

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Fast forward to today, and Secretary Bessent went on Fox News the night before the President's angry post with less promising news:

While his "a bit stalled" comment has been blasted across social media after such a celebratory attitude earlier this month, his tone contrasted with President Trump's may give us some insight.

Bessent's job as far as appearing in the media is to communicate clearly that there is a plan, assure the markets that nothing "too" volatile is in the works, and explain how the US will come through any volatility if it does prove necessary or unavoidable.

President Trump's job in terms of international trade and tariffs in particular is to drive a hard bargain.

That's why I'm not expecting F-22's to low buzz Xi Jinping's palace, or US nuke tests off the coast of Shanghai on the heels of President Trump's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" post.

Bessent is doing his job within reasonable specs, and President Trump is doing his -- laying the framework for better compliance by the Chinese by coming out swinging, and potentially driving an even harder bargain than he struck three weeks ago, to boot.

Don't forget the last time President Trump promised "No more Mr. Nice Guy".

Just after he took a bullet to the head, he said the same thing:

And we all know what happened next.  He CRUSHED the opposition.

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I'm sure President Xi is aware, and doing some advanced math to figure out how bad he screwed up.

A single day after Bessent and Greer announced the "fast deal" with China, Sec. Bessent went on Bloomberg explaining what comes next: ENFORCEMENT.

That may give us another angle on what is happening behind the scenes, since Bessent basically laid out exactly how the Trump Administration would react -- as opposed to Biden's lack of enforcement -- if and when China tested the President's will.

Listen to Bessent's clear-cut path forward after striking that deal with China, and the President's next steps will probably be obvious:

Here's the full screen player for that video for convenience:

That sounds to me like they EXPECTED China to push back and TEST whatever agreement had just been hashed out.

Because that's what they always do.

So really, we're just going through the motions to some degree, and we're not in the "enforcement" stage of the agreement where we make sure China knows we weren't kidding.

And we're not soft and pudgy when it comes to responding to pushback like the Biden Administration was for 4 long years.

Another potential issue that could be a thorn in the President's side is the aspect of the agreement having to do with minerals.

Don't forget that the US and China are essentially in a technological race, and those rare-earth minerals are key; just as important as the reciprocal tariffs.  (Probably far more important, actually.)

Only one news outlet that I could find even hinted at that aspect of the agreement in their coverage -- check out an excerpt from the New York Post:

President Trump on Friday claimed China “totally violated” a temporary truce with the US to lower tariff rates and trade restrictions for critical minerals as the world’s two largest economies negotiate.

He did not specify how China violated the trade agreement, which the two nations reached earlier this month.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier in the day that the White House has “been very focused on monitoring Chinese compliance, or in this case, noncompliance, with the agreement.”

Both China and the US had slashed their tariff rates on the other by more than 100 percentage points, bringing China’s duty on the US down to 10% from 125% and Trump’s levy on China down to 30% from 145%. (Emphasis added.)

This could have almost nothing to do with tariffs.

This dustup could be solely about the aspect of the agreement involving rare-earth minerals.

For China's part, they are SUPPOSED to be pulling back on restrictions that have minimized US access to those minerals.

I have a gut feeling that those minerals, and the part they play in this technology race, is really key here.

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Just listen to US Trade Rep Greer's take on what just happened when he appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box today, emphasizing "Chinese Compliance", among the other points of the violated agreement.

I'll key this video up at the spot where they start talking about this issue in particular:

Tariffs matter.

President Trump's use of them is timely and genius-level stuff when you consider how comprehensively the idea of tariffs has been demonized in American culture, intentionally over decades.

But tariffs are a tool -- a means to an end.

Those rare-earth minerals represent the end-game as much as anything can right now.

Keep your eye on the coming days and President Trump's rhetoric around China.  Watch for those keywords -- not just the headline grabbing phrases like "tariff war".

When the Trump Administration starts talking about Chinese "compliance", are they talking about tariffs?  Or are they talking about deregulating America's access to those minerals that often come either from China itself, or through territories where China holds sway over the mining of those minerals.

There is a game going on barely tucked under the coversheet of tariffs that will prove far more impactful even than trade imbalances in the long run.

Maybe more impactful than who has the most missiles, tanks, and aircraft.

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AI, the chips that run the AI infrastructure, and the hi-tech race to get there first -- wherever "there" is -- is really what is driving everything else right now.

And President Trump is taking the gloves off for a reason.

He intends to win this -- because if he wins, America wins.

And if he loses... well, you do the math.

Buckle up, indeed.  Things just might be about to get interesting.

With a little luck and some really good deal making, President Trump will pull it off without aircraft carriers in the Yellow Sea or F-22 "show of force" flights.

What do you think?


 

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