April 15, 2025 • 7 mins
Mary Rooke speaks with Mendte in the Morning about how China is fighting back against the Trump tariffs.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've been talking about tariffs a lot today and there's
been a whole lot of opinions on it. But let's
focus in on China for a second because Mary Rook,
who writes commentary and analysis for the Daily Caller, has
a great column there that you can read today at
Dailycaller dot com on how China is using unconventional warfare
(00:21):
to fight Trump's tariffs. Mary, as always, thanks for joining
us today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, absolutely, anytime, but please tell us about what this is,
what you're talking about with unconventional warfare that China is using.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So you know, typically when you're in at tariff war
with another country, you're going to either back down as
you saw you know many countries in the EU coming
to Trump and saying, okay, we're actually going to put
zero tariffs, so we're going to lower the tariff threshold,
or you're going to be like China initially, who said okay, well,
if you're going to raise tariffs on me, then I'm
going to come back and do a reciprocal tariff, meaning
(00:59):
I'm going to eat or meet your tariff percentage or
raise it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
But that's not all China is doing.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I noticed over the weekend that there was an uptick
and TikTok videos and if everybody remembers, China owns TikTok
through by Dance, and pretty much any company that is
based in China has to form an agreement with the
Chinese government that it can be nationalized at any time.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's you know, controlled.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
People do say that it's being used by the Chinese
military to collect data on Americans.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
There's a lot of you know, a call to in TikTok.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So you have all of these TikTok influencers kind of
bumping up their propaganda, either promoting Chinese manufacturing and talking
about how it's the best in the world, or on
the other hand, they're talking terribly about American brands and
trying to lower the status of American luxury brands in
(01:52):
hopes that these brands probably go to the White House
and say, hey, President Trump, you know I run, Louis Batana,
run goodye or whatever. Then you know, we're having a
hard time right now because they're showing that lululum and
pants could be made for seven dollars and we sell
them for ninety nine dollars, and you know, it's an
interesting strategy.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I think that it's not going to work.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
In fact, I think that it's going to end up
backfiring on China because you know, it's revealing of their intent. Instead,
they have zero problem taking your intellectual property, making a
cheap copy of it, destroying your business, and it becomes
you know, as as soon as it becomes convenient to them.
So it's foolish for any company to be doing business
(02:34):
with China. And I think that when they see these videos,
one thing stands out for sure is that we all
know that these manufacturers go over to China for cheap labor.
And so if China is freaking out and to such
degree where they're not only doing reciprocal tariffs, but they're
also doing these you know, TikTok propaganda videos, then something
(02:56):
is scaring China. And I think that Trump should double down.
I think that he should hold firm. I don't think
that he should labor right now, because I think that
he understands that if we can break through this kind
of stagnant period and the negotiation, America will end up
being the victor in this.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, you said, you said cheap labor, sometimes it's slave labor.
When it comes to the yes, yeah, absolutely. When it
comes to the wigers, it is interesting. It seems so
nakedly transparent what they're doing. So you said there might
be a backlash because people who have maybe love TikTok
even though they know it's run by the Chinese National
(03:36):
Communist Party, Even though they know that for a fact,
when they see this, they might go, oh, that's a
little bit too much. Is that the backlash you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I think it's more from companies.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I sadly think that there is a sect of the
American population that's going to see that, roll their eyes
and move on. They're kind of desensitized to maybe the
anti American sentiment or the anti US sentiments, especially from
other countries. You know, for a long time, we've allowed
France and England and all those things to have this
(04:07):
negative view of Americans rather than being like, we have
a negative view of you. So I don't think that
that's going to affect necessarily the daily user. But I
do think that it's going to affect brands, luxury brands
here in America like Lululmon, you know, like these kind
of OEM type manufacturing businesses where they send their manufacturing
(04:28):
over to China. They do it for you know, sometimes
two three dollars for the product, like Nike, and then
you know, send it back over to America and sell
it for one hundred and ninety two hundred fifty dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So I think that that's really the brand pressure that's
going to come to the White House.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I think that it's going to be more from these
you know, big corporations like Nike, Adidas.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, backlash from the big corporations, but how about backlash
from the Trump administration. He's been pretty kind to TikTok,
giving them an opportunity to sell and will this Will
there be a backlash there?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
You know, I would not be shocked.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You know, Trump, if he feels like he's being disrespected,
if he feels like he's being taken advantage up, he's
definitely you know, more likely to hit back and hit hard.
And so I think that a lot of this stuff
has to be kind of taken with a grain of salt.
I know that he understands that China's going to.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Do this, and so it depends on how how high
that level gets, you know, is it going to hit
his threshold or not before he says Okay, that's been enough,
and then he hits back.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
With something else.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, because he's put off the sale of it, and
he's been very kind to them. So it'd be interesting
to see if this is, uh, this is the final straw.
Where do you see this going?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Mary?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I know this is a this is a question that
leads to a long answer, but we only have about
a minute left. But I know there's a lot of
trepidation about these tariffs. Can you make people feel better
about them?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I think that here's the positive thing.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
He's done this before, and Americans have come out that
our American farmers were saved from the tariffs that he
placed on China. You know, we were able to bring
back business and the EU when you leving them against France.
The other thing is that America was exposed during COVID
our supply chain lines. There was so much that we
couldn't get because it was made in foreign countries, especially
(06:16):
adversaries like China. We're talking about medic and ppe gear,
We're talking about microchips, semiconductors, all of these things that
Americans need to make for our national security, you know, safety,
and so if we can get manufacturers here in America.
To start producing this stuff at a better rate and
better quality here in America, where we don't have to
(06:38):
worry about shipping it from China all the way back
to the United States. We are going to be a
safer country. So I think that, you know, they talk
a lot about just having a little bit of a
short term pain for a long term gain.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
If we can do that alone, that's going to help.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Our country absolutely well, said Mary Rural, commentary commentary and
analysis writer for The Daily Caller. You can read her
latest column about what We're Just talking about at dailycoor
dot com. Mary, thanks a.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Lot, Thanks so much, Larry. I have a good day.
We've been talking about tariffs a lot today and there's
been a whole lot of opinions on it. But let's
focus in on China for a second because Mary Rook,
who writes commentary and analysis for the Daily Caller, has
a great column there that you can read today at
Dailycaller dot com on how China is using unconventional warfare
(00:21):
to fight Trump's tariffs. Mary, as always, thanks for joining
us today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, absolutely, anytime, but please tell us about what this is,
what you're talking about with unconventional warfare that China is using.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So you know, typically when you're in at tariff war
with another country, you're going to either back down as
you saw you know many countries in the EU coming
to Trump and saying, okay, we're actually going to put
zero tariffs, so we're going to lower the tariff threshold,
or you're going to be like China initially, who said okay, well,
if you're going to raise tariffs on me, then I'm
going to come back and do a reciprocal tariff, meaning
(00:59):
I'm going to eat or meet your tariff percentage or
raise it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
But that's not all China is doing.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I noticed over the weekend that there was an uptick
and TikTok videos and if everybody remembers, China owns TikTok
through by Dance, and pretty much any company that is
based in China has to form an agreement with the
Chinese government that it can be nationalized at any time.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's you know, controlled.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
People do say that it's being used by the Chinese
military to collect data on Americans.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
There's a lot of you know, a call to in TikTok.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So you have all of these TikTok influencers kind of
bumping up their propaganda, either promoting Chinese manufacturing and talking
about how it's the best in the world, or on
the other hand, they're talking terribly about American brands and
trying to lower the status of American luxury brands in
(01:52):
hopes that these brands probably go to the White House
and say, hey, President Trump, you know I run, Louis Batana,
run goodye or whatever. Then you know, we're having a
hard time right now because they're showing that lululum and
pants could be made for seven dollars and we sell
them for ninety nine dollars, and you know, it's an
interesting strategy.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I think that it's not going to work.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
In fact, I think that it's going to end up
backfiring on China because you know, it's revealing of their intent. Instead,
they have zero problem taking your intellectual property, making a
cheap copy of it, destroying your business, and it becomes
you know, as as soon as it becomes convenient to them.
So it's foolish for any company to be doing business
(02:34):
with China. And I think that when they see these videos,
one thing stands out for sure is that we all
know that these manufacturers go over to China for cheap labor.
And so if China is freaking out and to such
degree where they're not only doing reciprocal tariffs, but they're
also doing these you know, TikTok propaganda videos, then something
(02:56):
is scaring China. And I think that Trump should double down.
I think that he should hold firm. I don't think
that he should labor right now, because I think that
he understands that if we can break through this kind
of stagnant period and the negotiation, America will end up
being the victor in this.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, you said, you said cheap labor, sometimes it's slave labor.
When it comes to the yes, yeah, absolutely. When it
comes to the wigers, it is interesting. It seems so
nakedly transparent what they're doing. So you said there might
be a backlash because people who have maybe love TikTok
even though they know it's run by the Chinese National
(03:36):
Communist Party, Even though they know that for a fact,
when they see this, they might go, oh, that's a
little bit too much. Is that the backlash you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I think it's more from companies.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I sadly think that there is a sect of the
American population that's going to see that, roll their eyes
and move on. They're kind of desensitized to maybe the
anti American sentiment or the anti US sentiments, especially from
other countries. You know, for a long time, we've allowed
France and England and all those things to have this
(04:07):
negative view of Americans rather than being like, we have
a negative view of you. So I don't think that
that's going to affect necessarily the daily user. But I
do think that it's going to affect brands, luxury brands
here in America like Lululmon, you know, like these kind
of OEM type manufacturing businesses where they send their manufacturing
(04:28):
over to China. They do it for you know, sometimes
two three dollars for the product, like Nike, and then
you know, send it back over to America and sell
it for one hundred and ninety two hundred fifty dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So I think that that's really the brand pressure that's
going to come to the White House.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I think that it's going to be more from these
you know, big corporations like Nike, Adidas.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, backlash from the big corporations, but how about backlash
from the Trump administration. He's been pretty kind to TikTok,
giving them an opportunity to sell and will this Will
there be a backlash there?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
You know, I would not be shocked.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You know, Trump, if he feels like he's being disrespected,
if he feels like he's being taken advantage up, he's
definitely you know, more likely to hit back and hit hard.
And so I think that a lot of this stuff
has to be kind of taken with a grain of salt.
I know that he understands that China's going to.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Do this, and so it depends on how how high
that level gets, you know, is it going to hit
his threshold or not before he says Okay, that's been enough,
and then he hits back.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
With something else.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, because he's put off the sale of it, and
he's been very kind to them. So it'd be interesting
to see if this is, uh, this is the final straw.
Where do you see this going?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Mary?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I know this is a this is a question that
leads to a long answer, but we only have about
a minute left. But I know there's a lot of
trepidation about these tariffs. Can you make people feel better
about them?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I think that here's the positive thing.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
He's done this before, and Americans have come out that
our American farmers were saved from the tariffs that he
placed on China. You know, we were able to bring
back business and the EU when you leving them against France.
The other thing is that America was exposed during COVID
our supply chain lines. There was so much that we
couldn't get because it was made in foreign countries, especially
(06:16):
adversaries like China. We're talking about medic and ppe gear,
We're talking about microchips, semiconductors, all of these things that
Americans need to make for our national security, you know, safety,
and so if we can get manufacturers here in America.
To start producing this stuff at a better rate and
better quality here in America, where we don't have to
(06:38):
worry about shipping it from China all the way back
to the United States. We are going to be a
safer country. So I think that, you know, they talk
a lot about just having a little bit of a
short term pain for a long term gain.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
If we can do that alone, that's going to help.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Our country absolutely well, said Mary Rural, commentary commentary and
analysis writer for The Daily Caller. You can read her
latest column about what We're Just talking about at dailycoor
dot com. Mary, thanks a.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Lot, Thanks so much, Larry. I have a good day.
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