President Trump won his first election partially based on China. Again the ChiComs remain top of mind in this campaign.
Unlike his worthless predecessor, Trump is tough on China. He campaigned against America’s pansy-ass Obama-era trade policy that allowed China to take over $300 billion from the American economy year after year. Further, China’s theft of intellectual property (IP) likely totals trillions.
China feasted on America’s Obama-era carcass. However, Trump abruptly ended the gravy train for China. Further, he ended China’s dominance in GDP.
With Trump’s election came an invigorated American economy, and the decline of the Chinese economy. And that’s why China needed something to change the battlefield.
Whether they wanted the Chinese Wuhan Virus to decimate the world economy remains to be seen. But the Chinese certainly have tried to take advantage of the situation. They’ve put the blame on the U.S. Now they find themselves in an adversarial position with President Trump, versus a “friendly enemies” one.
President Trump threatened to permanently freeze US funding to the World Health Organization. And in a letter to the WHO Director, Trump alleged WHO ignored credible warning signs about coronavirus as it emerged in China.
Additionally, Trump says the WHO knew about the severity of the Chinese Wuhan Virus based on communications received from Taiwan. Thus, the WHO repeatedly continued to make claims about the coronavirus which were “either grossly inaccurate or misleading”.
Trump ended the letter by informing him to make improvements or face the loss of US funding:
It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China. My Administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste. That is why it is my duty, as President of the United States, to inform you that, if the World Health Organization does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization. I cannot allow American taxpayer dollars to continue to finance an organization that, in its present state, is so clearly not serving America’s interests.
The letter:
This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory! pic.twitter.com/pF2kzPUpDv
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2020
President Trump ultimately cut funding to the WHO. Still, Trump’s letter represented more a warning to China, than the WHO.
Nicholas Grossman sees a problem:
With China announcing $2B in additional funding to WHO, and the US saying it will pull its $553M in 30 days, re-upping my @thedispatch article warning that Trump’s strategy won’t reform WHO, but will just anger other countries and cede influence to China.
With China announcing $2B in additional funding to WHO, and the US saying it will pull its $553M in 30 days, re-upping my @thedispatch article warning that Trump's strategy won't reform WHO, but will just anger other countries and cede influence to China.https://t.co/tjBhhUuheH
— Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) May 19, 2020
This move is Trump at his finest.
America stops funding the WHO, and China steps in. Trump got China to pull its weight. And where else will China be forced to step up? The United Nations?
If China wants to replace America in funding the world, President Trump will let them. After all, look at all it’s gotten America.
We fund dozens of countries who hate us. China will fare no better.
Trump’s policy is brilliant. The U.S. will put our funds and efforts towards U.S. improvements.
As for worldwide pandemics, I assure you the U.S. will always have its place in helping solve such issues. We don’t need a governing body to work with nations around the world on viruses or other diseases. Such is the medical community, much like that of music and science. We share successes for the greater good. And we don’t need a bureaucratic layer to work together to solve problems.
Trump got China to fund nonsense. Like the U.S. used to do, China will pull billions of dollars out of their economy each year, and get nothing in return. Kudos to President Trump for passing this buck to the ChiComs.
