Let me ask you about adversaries,

because among Trump

supporters is a view:

Because Trump is so crude,

so obnoxious, so overbearing,

so insulting,

he must impress the Chinese

no end. That,

that kind of—

they must look at him and say:

Here is one rough, tough guy who

we better not fool around with.

And, you know,

Obama was so polite, and

George W. Bush was so affable.

We didn't,

we don't respect them, but

we can respect this guy.

And the world,

the world now

fears Donald—fears

to cross Donald Trump.

What is your assessment

of what the adversaries think?

Well, China's laughing, okay?

China is—

plays a long game.

They understand that in

a trade war

with the United States,

in many ways,

they have the upper hand. Why?

In large part

because they're not a democracy.

And they can withstand

economic pain, blame it—

blame it on the United States,

and their people will eat it.

That's not going to work here

in the United States.

And plus,

China is looking at the

damage that we are doing to

economies around Asia

and seeing an opportunity

for them to fill a vacuum

in the bilateral

trade relationship

that we've left.

Moreover,

China

played Trump's game with him,

and he said,

Trump said, you know,

we're going to tariff

you this amount,

and China said, okay,

I'll call you and raise you.

And they went back and forth

until it got to a crazy

level.

But the Chinese are

not backing down.

And the Chinese,

moreover, are saying,

beyond the trade room:

We've got a whole bunch

of non-trade things

we can do

to make your life miserable,

Donald Trump.

And that's

when they went after rare earths

and a whole bunch of of other,

important

products, commodities,

that we depend on, that

China only can provide.