Trump Harder Line On China; Conflicting Cult Signals; Core Socialist Values Campaign - Sinocism 11.20.17

Good Morning...this is Thanksgiving week in the US and so there will be no newsletter this Thursday or Friday.

The excellent Jonathan Swan at Axios has lots more detail on what I have been saying for a while, that behind the pomp and smiles the Trump Administration has been preparing a much tougher approach to China. In 1 big thing: Lighthizer rising Swan tells us that:

Shortly before Trump left for Asia, Lighthizer met with the entire economic team in the White House to discuss the U.S.-China relationship. If the Trump administration takes the hardline actions we expect them to eventually take on China, historians will look back on this meeting as a seminal moment...

Lighthizer — in front of the whole economic team including Cohn, Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue — described the U.S.-China economic relationship as "bullshit." Lighthizer laid out the history of the last 25 years of U.S.-China relations. He went through what each "dialogue" w…