Since September last year, Trump’s U.S. properties have imported more than eight tons of goods from China, CNN discovered when reviewing U.S. customs data compiled by ImportGenius, which tracks information that companies are legally obligated to supply US customs when they import products into the US Imports have come to decorate their properties, while the president has tried to dress China.
A shipment of two tons of wood and glass display cases arrived at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles from Shanghai just two months ago. Meanwhile, Trump has increasingly lagged behind China for the country’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump tweeted about “China’s incompetence” and accused them of “mass murder worldwide” two days after the cabinets arrived in Los Angeles.
Trump has said he left the operation of his business empire to his sons when he became president, but he did not completely relinquish control of the companies in which he still has a stake, and it is unclear what role, if any, he plays. . The day-to-day business.
Imports to Trump’s properties are at odds with the economic nationalism of his catchphrase “Make America Great Again.”
The preferences of companies named after Trump also appear to be very different from the preferences Trump has asked US executive agencies to adopt.
Trump issued an executive order in April 2017 that federal agencies should “Buy American” and then duplicated that message in January 2019, issuing an executive order on “Buy-American Preferences” for infrastructure projects, and then in July that year by signing an order “Maximize the Use of American-Made Goods, Products and Materials,” announcing that his administration would enforce the Buy American Act of 1933 “to the fullest extent permitted by law.”
Chinese purchases by the Trump organization also contradict messages from members of his own cabinet warning Americans to be suspicious of doing business with China.
The White House did not comment, and the Trump organization did not respond to requests for comment.
Attorney General William Barr accused Hollywood and Silicon Valley of being “pawns” of the Chinese government in a speech on Thursday. He also warned American businessmen pressing for pro-China policies that their work could constitute a violation of foreign lobbying laws.
Trump also delivered a lengthy reprimand from former Vice President Joe Biden and China as he spoke to reporters at the Rose Garden last week, saying that “Biden’s entire career has been a gift to the Chinese Communist Party” and has been “devastating to the American worker. “
Biden and his campaign have said that Trump failed to confront China in its bid to combat the coronavirus pandemic. “He ignored the warnings from health experts and intelligence agencies, and he trusted China’s leaders,” Biden said earlier this year.
The China issue has become a prominent theme for the election year as Trump and Biden try to paint the other as weak in the face of Beijing’s aggression. Both parties have used the problem in campaign ads.
‘Fully responsible’
In the latest attempt to punish China, Trump administration officials have been raising the idea of banning members of the Chinese Communist Party from entering the U.S., the NYT reported, citing people familiar with the proposal.
It is unclear how far Trump would go in escalating tensions with China at this time due to possible negative effects it could have on the US economy, which has already been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. from the administration to CNN.
Last week, Trump said he is not interested in a second-phase trade deal with Beijing, as tensions between the two countries have risen amid the coronavirus pandemic and as China restricts Hong Kong’s autonomy. Trump also said last week that China is “buying a lot” after the deal, but did not provide specific figures.
Trump also said he has not spoken to President Xi Jinping, who has no plans to speak to him, and said the United States holds China “fully responsible for hiding the virus and releasing it in the world.” Less than six months ago, Trump was playing a completely different tune.
“China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus,” Trump tweeted on January 24, “The United States greatly appreciates your efforts and transparency. Everything will work out. In particular, on behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi!”
Before that, when the “phase one” trade deal was signed by Trump in January, he promised that it would boost economic security.
“Together we are straightening past mistakes and delivering a future of justice and economic security,” Trump said from the East Room of the White House just as lawmakers from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue were preparing to vote on two articles of impeachment. . . “Most people thought that this could never happen,” he said.
The phase one agreement did not address major structural changes in the relationship between the U.S. and the Chinese economy that Trump has sought. And it is unclear whether China will honor its phase one commitment to purchase an additional $ 200 billion in US goods and services this year and next.
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