Trump’s Tariff Spear Nicked the Dragon—Count On Xi Playing Dirty

Some’re Toasting Trump’s Trade Win. Spoiler: It Ain’t Over Till The Red Dragon Sings.

Rod Martin’s Fox News victory lap—claiming Trump’s tariffs slayed the Red Dragon —nailed the market’s 2% pop and 75 countries scrambling for deals, and we salute his big-stage swagger! But, much like Saruman thinking Minas Tirith was done, Martin’s calling this fight over way too soon, missing the very much alive and dangerous Dragon’s who’s got hidden claws in our backyard—think CCP assets in Big Tech, Finance & Government, Greenland’s biggest trading partner and a Panama Canal gambit who’s ink isn’t yet dry on Hegseth’s contract [7].

FOX BUSINESS, Making Money Segment, 2:47PM EDT, 09 April 2025, Host interviews Rod D. Martin, Article: See I Told You So - My Fox Business Interview on Trump's Trade Triumph, https://www.rodmartin.org/p/see-i-told-you-so-my-fox-business

Instead, let’s zoom out: this trade war’s just warming up, with Xi’s next moves lurking closer to home than Martin’s eagle eye has yet spotted.

It Ain’t Over Till The Red Dragon Sings

Cue the confetti? Trump’s tariffs supposedly roasted the Red Dragon, with 75 countries come begging for protection and Xi Jinping cowering. Markets spiked, some TV guy’s crowing “checkmate,” and everyone’s high-fiving. Except—it ain’t. Plot twist—China’s not down for the count. Trump’s spear grazed and bounced off, not gutted the beast, and Xi’s playing cards nobody’s counting, right here in our zip code, even as Xi controls the lions-share of the Global Supply Chain on which the U.S. depends [5]. It’s a treasure hoard beyond count.

First, let’s give Trump his flowers. His April 2 tariff blitz—reciprocal rates, 125% on China—was a masterclass. Argentina and Vietnam folded like lawn chairs; the EU’s sweating. Our $1.2T trade deficit’s a sledgehammer: we buy, they bow. They’ll gladly pick up the slack the Red Dragon is dropping in the South China Sea. The April 9 pause? Pure “Art of the Deal”—stocks jumped 2%, and Trump’s got the world on a leash. It’s chess, not checkers, wired for every dodge Xi might pull. Nobody’s outfoxed the Orange Man yet.

But hold the victory lap. China’s no Smaug skewered with a one-shot kill. The U.S. Senate’s still got doomed spies who remain embedded, judges in their back pockets even though their narrative has begun to spring a leak - especially after last week’s bombshell: a Meta whistleblower swore the CCP’s got all the tech moguls on speed dial, tweaking algorithms to hush critics—and all on U.S. soil.

UNITED STATES SENATE, JUDICIARY OVERSIGHT HEARING, 09 April, 2025; Chairman Senator Josh Hawley; Witness, FACEBOOK, Fmr Director of Global Public Policy, Sarah Wynn-Williams, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiRr5J8Alm4

That’s not a KO’d foe; that’s a snake with fangs in our media, Congress, even Pentagon supply chains. And here’s another teaser – last week, the CCP admitted the PLA had infiltrated key U.S. infrastructure including military. They snooped around and broke some crystal [1], just to let the homeowner know they aren’t alone and they have the nuclear combination locks to our power plants. Of course, Trump’s exposing these moles (shoutout to Stephen Miller spiking CNN’s border spin), but it’s a slog, not a sprint. And there are thousands more to go. Every day, another mask slips—even Boasberg’s lawfare C.R.E.W. think they’re winning, but they’re bleeding clout. And every TRO is a punch to the face of John Q. Public.

THE WHITE HOUSE, 14 April, 2025, Bilateral Meeting, President Trump & President Bukele (El Salvador), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6iphPzEGtw

Zoom out further. China’s not waving a white flag—they’re speed-dialing Vietnam, ASEAN, Saudi Arabia. They’re reminding their friends of their BRICS bonds – and Xi’s Hanoi jaunt wasn’t for selfies; it’s trade lanes to skirt tariffs. Bet they wished they let the Yankees win, they’d be swimming in cash—and IP [9]—even with all the judicial fellow travelers becoming fully exposed? At home, they’re eyeing $2T in stimulus—cheap loans, EV boosts—to keep factories humming. Rare earths? The Red Dragon holds 17% of the world’s stash and could choke our tech. Even while California magically develops forest fires all around the new south-central California Lithium find. Treasury chatter’s getting hotter—China’s dumping $50B of their $759B in T-bills, down from $1.3T at their peak [2]. Forbes screamed “market crash” [6]; nah, it’s pocket change for drone ships, sixth gen fighters, stealth bombers, nuclear aircraft carriers, strategic submarines and debt. Xi’s too proud to torch his own yuan for clicks.

The White House, President Trump Cabinet Meeting, Pete Hegseth - Secretary Of Defense - Associated Press - 10 April 2025

Now, the real heat: Trump’s got bigger dragons to slay. Greenland’s his Arctic Frost prize—minerals, military muscle, intercept point for all those Red Dragon missiles pointed like fangs at America’s soft underbelly—and Canada’s the powder keg [8]. By summer, expect chaos up north - no matter which PM they pick, they’re both on the WEF payroll - and neither one is too chummy with President Trump. China’s studied our fault lines since Tet—protests, legal stunts, you name it—color revolutions disguised as race riots are cheaper than jets and oceans of troops and more effective than nukes for weakening an enemy. Sun Tzu wrote their book - and Trump is it’s Shifu. But make no mistake - the Red Dragon’s covert troops are pros at tossing Molotovs while wearing civilian disguise, feigning innocence, outshining even Moscow at the peak of the Cold War. And the Red Dragon has his eye on our jugular, Panama [4]. The Canal’s our lifeline; China’s itching to tangle it in “monopoly” suits or worse. They’d swap Taiwan for it, maybe—but those TSMC’s Arizona fabs aren’t fully baked, and their data remains offshore—easy pickens for a sea dragon’s first strike. That’s a chip worth more than any tariff—tens of trillions, not billions, and control of the planet’s sea-lanes to boot [3].

Don’t sleep on Xi’s home game. That 125% counter-tariff was a dud [11], but they’re cooking smarter jabs—antitrust probes on Google and Facebook (Meta), maybe export bans on some minerals. But parting with a single golden coin from their 8,000 ton hoard (not 5400 tons, as advertised)? Don’t count on it. By the way, a little bird told me Muammar Gaddafi left behind $10B in gold [2009] to start the African gold-backed Dinar, back when gold was $1,619.10 per ounce - and Hillary Clinton was the last one to see where it went, before Libya’s leader gave up the ghost? What’s 191.3 tons between friends? One thing’s for sure, it didn’t end up in Fort Knox or West Point - and as for the New York vault, I think Rudy’s going to have something to say about that place first? One things for certain, there’s been a curious lack of curiosity when that topic of Golden Dinars rolls around? Pocket change for trans-planted ex-pat Irish pontificators?

Trump’s plan’s tight, anticipating every feint, but China’s not flatlining. At least not yet. Their GDP’s limping along at 4%, yet $3.18T in reserves, plus their hidden pile of gold buys time [10]. Social media’s buzzing: X posts say “Trump’s winning,” but Chinese bloggers spit fire at us, not Xi. He’s turned tariffs into a rally cry.

The Red Dragon has a history of insular behavior, even having spent centuries feeding on it’s own interests, usually consuming it’s own people when food got scarce. But cutting off American IP, currency (trade deficits) and military secrets only slow his global movements, not stop them. And that’s because the real blood of the Red Dragon is energy - oil, coal, nuclear - and Biden’s inexplicable Afghan retreat didn’t just arm, equip and clothe terrorist armies in U.S. gear subservient to the Red Dragon who then secreted across American frontier? No, most important of all, Biden’s withdrawal opened up an over-land pipeline route for Iranian crude, the true lifeblood of voracious beast. You see, the Red Dragon prefers attacking his victims under the veil of commercial enterprise, purchased allegiance and thirteen step stratagem. See our discourse on The Art Of War.

So, is Trump’s spear sharper? Bet on it—he’s baiting Xi into bad calls while peeling back CCP’s U.S. cover. But make no mistake, the Red Dragon’s got claws, from Panama to Pennsylvania. Some call it over. I say it’s round one, and Xi’s whispering to Canadian & Greenland hopefuls, even as they’re eyeing our Canal. They’re banking on our blind spots, our hubris and those injections which weakened our defense. Who’s got the edge—Bard The Orange Boatman or Red Dragon? You tell me. This trade war’s just warming up. Drop your take below or catch my X thread for the unfiltered cut.

Bibliography

1. Security Week, 11 April, 2025, “China Admitted to Volt Typhoon Cyberattacks on US Critical Infrastructure: Report”, Kovacs, Eduard, https://www.securityweek.com/china-admitted-to-us-that-it-conducted-volt-typhoon-attacks-report/

2. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (2025). Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities. Retrieved, 15 April, 2025 from https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0037

3. Economy, E. (2025, April 8). Interview on China’s response to Trump’s trade war. PBS NewsHour. Retrieved, 15 April, 2025 from https://www.pbs.org/video/trade-wars-guest-1744148201/

4. Gantz, D. A. (2025, January 27). Adverse consequences of U.S. threats to retake the Panama Canal. Baker Institute. Retrieved, 15 April 2025 from https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/adverse-consequences-us-threats-retake-panama-canal

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7. Smith, C. (2025, February 2). Rubio presses Panama to reduce Chinese influence over its canal or face U.S. measures. PBS News. Retrieved, 15 April 2025 from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/rubio-presses-panama-to-reduce-chinese-influence-over-its-canal-or-face-u-s-measures

8. Sullivan, A. (2025, January 13). It’s ironic: How climate crisis is driving Trump push on Greenland and Panama. The Guardian. Retrieved, 15 April 2025 from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/13/trump-greenland-panama-canal-climate-crisis

9. U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. (2025, April 8). Testimony on CCP Influence in U.S. Technology Platforms. Retrieved, 15 April 2025 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiRr5J8Alm4&t=1867s

10. Wang, C. (2025, April 8). China’s position on some issues concerning China-U.S. economic, trade relations. Beijing Review. Retrieved, 15 April 2025 from http://english.scio.gov.cn/whitepapers/2025-04/09/content_117814362.html

11. Wong, E. (2025, April 9). For U.S. and China, a risky game of chicken with no off-ramp in sight. The New York Times. Retrieved, 15 April 2025 from https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/world/asia/china-us-tariff-trade.html