Today was one for the history books.
Shortly after China announced retaliatory tariffs to the tune of $75 billion worth of American imports, U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to unload a tweet storm for the ages, railing against Beijing and demanding U.S. companies make their products in the states.
There’s a lot to unpack in the series of five tweets. Trump mentioned how the U.S. has lost billions of dollars to China due to bad trade choices, intellectual property theft and even Fentanyl pouring in.
Even as president, however, he doesn’t exactly have the authority to make some of the demands he did, such as ordering U.S. companies to leave China. He also ordered FedEx, Amazon, UPS and the United States Postal Service to search all packages coming from China for Fentanyl.
Here’s exactly what Trump said, in his own words.
….better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
….all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop – it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
In addition to the news on more incoming tariffs applied by China to U.S. goods, Trump again went after the Federal Reserve and his favorite whipping boy, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, in a series of tweets just minutes before the China string.
The president even went so far as to wonder aloud who the United States’ biggest enemy is, Powell or Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Powell gave a speech Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he sent no clear signal that the Fed will cut rates further any time soon. Just this week on Monday, Trump called for an immediate 1% rate cut, and for the central bank to restart quantitative easing.
Again, in his own words:
….My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Trump’s aides would be wise to steer clear of the president today because he has clearly had it with China and his Federal Reserve Chairman, and heads are likely to roll.