Category: Diplomacy

See If You Can Spot the Biggest Difference Between Biden’s and Trump’s China Deals.

As Matt writes nearby, on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a complete economic and trade reset with China that is aimed at bridging a lopsided $1.2 trillion trade deficit with the U.S.

Details of the new agreement are promised on Monday, but let’s take a look at the abundant differences we can see between Joe Biden’s and Donald Trump’s approaches with China.

While people love to tout Trump’s “art of the deal” transactional dealmaking with super powers, it was actually Joe Biden who leveraged his job as vice president and then as president to personally enrich his son’s “business” and, by extension, his own personal bottom line.

Biden encouraged his son’s ferociously greedy dealings with the Chinese energy firms and even fronted a deal for China to get raw earth minerals to help with the communist state’s electric car battery production and to help its notorious “Belt and Road Initiative.”

At one point, Hunter Biden and family were paid in diamonds in an apparent obvious attempt to avoid paying taxes.

As we now know, Hunter’s businesses always had to kick back “10% to ‘The Big Guy.'”

His investment firm was involved in a deal where a Chinese state-backed company gained control of a cobalt mine. This deal involved a $3.8 billion transaction and transferred 80% ownership of the Tenke Fungurum mine from an American company to China Molybdenum.

When Joe Biden was vice president he took his granddaughter and his family bagman, Hunter Biden, on Air Force Two to China.

While Joe Biden was discussing world relations with Ji Xingping, Hunter was off sealing deals for the Biden family. The senior Biden always claimed he had no personal knowledge of his son’s business dealings, but on that trip then-Vice President Biden met with Xi Jingping for hours and thereafter introduced him to his son.

Just ten days later, Hunter’s company was given the proper licenses enabling him to do business in China.

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U.S. resumes military aid as Ukraine backs plan for 30-day ceasefire

Ukraine “expressed readiness to accept” a U.S. proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire with Russia, the two countries said in a joint statement after a key meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.

Why it matters: A ceasefire, if implemented, would be a major diplomatic breakthrough in the three-year war between Russia and Ukraine. But the Kremlin has yet to weigh in on the U.S. proposal.

• “The ball is now in their court. We hope the Russians will reciprocate,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a press conference after the meeting.

The latest: A source close to the Ukrainian government told Axios U.S. military assistance resumed on Tuesday. Intelligence sharing with the U.S. was fully restored.

Driving the news: During the meeting — which lasted more than five hours — the U.S. agreed to lift its suspension on intelligence sharing with Ukraine and resume weapons shipments to the country, which were paused eight days ago.

• After weeks of pressuring the Ukrainians, the U.S. side signaled the pressure is now on Russia. “If the Russians say no, we will know what the impediment is here,” Rubio said.
• President Trump told reporters at the White House that he hopes Russia will agree to the ceasefire, and said he would invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky back to the White House.
• National security adviser Mike Waltz said Ukraine not only accepted the U.S. proposal but also presented its principles for a comprehensive peace deal including the security guarantees that it requires.

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