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The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
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- [00:02]
Mike Baker
Spring Fest and Ego Days are here at Lowes right now. Get a Free Select EGO 56 volt battery with purchase of a select trimmer, blower or mower kit. Plus, shop today for new and exclusive items you need for your lawn. So get ready for spring with the latest in innovation From Ego, the 1 rated brand in cordless outdoor power only at Lowes. We have you say offer valid through 4 2. Selection varies by location while supplies last. This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. It's tax season and we're all a bit tired of numbers, but here's one you need to hear. $16.5 billion. That's how much the IRS flagged for possible identity fraud last year. Now here's a good number. 100 million. That's how many data points Lifelock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed. Save up to 40% your first year@lifelock.com podcast terms apply. Welcome to the PDP Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off today with a major shake up in global trade as President Trump announces sweeping new tariffs on imports. He did that on what's now called Liberation Day. Industry analyst at the Coalition for Prosperous America, Kenneth Raoza stops by to give us his take later in the show. China just wrapped up two days of military drills around Taiwan and labeled the island's new president a, quote, parasite. Well, that's not complimentary. It's the latest escalation in cross straight tensions. Our old friend Steve Yates of the Heritage foundation, he's going to join us to explain it. But first, today's Situation Report. Spotlight. In a Rose Garden address on Wednesday, President Trump unveiled a series of sweeping tariffs aimed at reshaping US trade policy. Now, the plan includes a universal 10% tariff on all imports set to take effect on April 5, with higher country specific tariffs such as 34% on Chinese goods and 20% on European Union products beginning on April 9. Are you keeping track of all this? The announcement sent shockwaves through global markets, causing significant declines in stock futures and raising concerns, of course, about potential inflation and recession risks. Now, critics argue that these tariffs could increase consumer prices and disrupt international supply chains. But my next guest has quite a different outlook. Joining us now to give his perspective on the new tariff regime is Kenneth Raposa from the Coalition for a Prosperous America. Ken, thanks very much for joining us here on THE SITUATION report.
- [02:53]
Kenneth Raposa
Hey, thanks having me back.
- [02:54]
Mike Baker
Now I'm going to ask you to take both sides of this argument because frankly, I'm not smart enough to really understand the whole tariff situation. And I would play devil's advocate, but I don't think I'm clever enough to do that. So let's start with why. What's the positive side of this tariff regime?
- [03:13]
Kenneth Raposa
Well, the positive side is that you are going to entice companies to manufactured goods in the United States. And that might mean that they're investing in new greenfield manufacturing plants like we recognize, like we heard recently from Hyundai when they said they would invest in steel making in Louisiana. That's unheard of. They're only doing that because of the tariff threat. Also maybe a gesture of goodwill to hope that they, the Koreans weren't going to be tariff, but that's another story. So that's one reason why you do it. And if you and I, let's say here's another reason, if you and I, other than the greenfield project, right, this would be a brand new manufacturing plant to make whatever it may be, Starlink satellites. You and I have a, have a factory. We spent millions of dollars to build this factory. We built it in 1980s. It got all the good equipment. It's ready to roll. We can make 100 widgets a day at this factory, whatever the widget may be, but we only make 60 widgets a day, maybe as low as 50. And the reason why is because import penetration from all these countries that, you know, I wouldn't say abuse the United States, but think of the United States as their country, as their market. So you and I that spent millions of dollars on this factory floor and all this equipment, we're not firing on all eight cylinders, we're firing on maybe four. So what happens is all of a sudden you and I are starting to get orders from Boeing and Ford to make that widget and now we're hiring a third shift and now we're putting those machines back in, back in, back to work. And so that's the good thing. That's the best case scenario, right? That's the best case scenario that that would happen. With tariffs, you have to keep them permanent in order to make that happen. Businesses and like markets, they need certainty. So you can't be Trump can't be willy nilly about this. He can't say there's going to be a tariff on Monday, then on Friday says, oh, I changed my mind because so and so country said they're going to import more chicken. That's not, that's not how it works. So you have to be very, you have to be very serious and, and show these countries what's going to be permanent.
- [05:07]
Mike Baker
Except, I mean, to your point, though, it seems like up to this stage it has been a little bit. And I've never really, I don't think I've ever said this on the air before, but willy nilly, I think I can say that. I think I'm not too old to say willy nilly.
- [05:22]
Kenneth Raposa
I don't even know if I've ever said that before. But that's okay. Every now and then I channel my mom. Look at this.
- [05:27]
Mike Baker
We're, we're breaking new ground. We're breaking new ground.
- [05:29]
Kenneth Raposa
Breaking ground. Breaking ground vision.
- [05:31]
Mike Baker
Yeah, so, so we've, let's, let's, let's leave that to the side just for now, because I want to revisit that. But maybe for the, for the sake of everybody watching, can you give us a layman's explanation as to how tariffs work?
- [05:50]
Kenneth Raposa
So let's pretend we're Walmart. Everybody knows what Walmart is, and Walmart has to fill its warehouses with goods that you and I buy. And it's springtime, so of course since the end of the holidays they've been buying patio furniture and things like that. So they are calling up their factories that they work with in South Asia, obviously Southeast Asia and China, and they're saying, I need 100,000 orders of this Adirondack plastic Adirondack chair. Okay, well, that plastic Adirondack chair used to cost $10 for Walmart to import. And now with tariffs, maybe it costs, let's say, let's see, all things being equal, it's 20%. So let's say now it costs 12, right? So 20% of 10, that's a $12 tariff. Walmart might say, oh, that's too much money. Actually, Walmart will say that because Walmart just wants things cheap. And Walmart's going to say, I don't want to pay that. And then the Chinese or the Asian or the Asian company that makes that, that plastic adder on that chair is going to say, well, a deal is a deal. And then Walmart's going to say, well, instead of me importing 100,000, how about if I import 150,000 of them instead? Can you give me a deal? Oh yeah, okay, I'll lower the price 10%. Right? So the tariff, in other words, what I'm trying to tell you is that $100 share tariff, that 10%, just to make it very simple math does not mean the chair costs $110. That's not what it means because of what I just explained to you. Walmart can set prices. Walmart can force its produce, its, its clients to lower prices. They can also tell their clients I'm going to buy more, increase volume. Can you lower price for that reason? So there's many ways that, that the price change. So it's not a direct percent. You know, it's not like $100 becomes $10 more out of your pocket. That's not how it works.
- [07:42]
Mike Baker
But, but not every company is Walmart.
- [07:45]
Kenneth Raposa
Neither company is Walmart. So now let's look at the small company. Let's, let's go back to you. And I mean you, you're not, you and I have been our widget making factory. We need to import a whole widget kings buddy.
- [07:55]
Mike Baker
That's right. Commanders of the widget dynasty, man.
- [08:01]
Kenneth Raposa
And, but you know, and, and we got to import some things from, from let's not say Mexico because that free trade deal looks like it's been untouched except for steel. We're going to import some stuff from Vietnam and it used to be 3.5% duty and now it's a 46 duty and that was a hundred dollar good. So now, now for us it's going to be a problem because we're a smaller business and you know, we're not gonna be able to make that kind of deal with our supplier. So we're gonna have to be very creative. We might have to say oh no, I don't have the money to do this at the moment, so I'm in trouble. That is very possible. Or they might, or you might say I'm going to work what's in my factory for now until I can find new suppliers and maybe those guys are in Mexico. Maybe I can find guys in Mexico because again, the free trade deal in Mexico seems to be intact. Or maybe I say, which would be Trump's dream and hope that you and I call our friend that we haven't spoke to since college and he says Ken, you didn't know that I made this widget too? Okay, it's going to cost you $10 more a pound. But hey, at least you know, you can get it whatever you want. Here's the price. Deal sold. And now, now we're, that's what, that's what was happening. So otherwise again, you and I are going to have to pay that, that price. And you know, however we talk to our suppliers about it, that's what we end up Getting the final price tag of. But we're going to, there's going to be some suffering for sure, you know, but you, but look, life is not easy, man. Life is not easy, man. It's, you know, the reason why you and I aren't generals in a war is because we're not, we're probably sitting there and we're thinking of all the worst case scenarios and we're, we're, we're, you know, pining over what could possibly go wrong and who's not going to like us anymore and who's going to be mad and we're not going to get anywhere. And then we're just going to go years and years into the future and no change is going to be made. We're not going to take any risks because we're too busy worried about what might happen. Well, that's not what leadership is. You have to take action. If this is a complete disaster, which I don't think it will be because the China tariffs were not a complete disaster, you can reverse it. This is not open heart surgery. If all of a sudden the market goes down 80%, which is not going to do, and people are being laid off left and right and there's bread lines being formed, you can say, okay, we're all done with that experience experiment. Let's go back to the way it was before I came up with this idea. I mean, that's the worst case scenario. Yeah.
- [10:19]
Mike Baker
I mean, I do think that one of the, and this is obviously one of the things that, you know, people who are pro Trump administration are, you know, they always cite is the fact that, you know, he's a disruptor in part because to some degree he doesn't care.
- [10:33]
Kenneth Raposa
Right.
- [10:33]
Mike Baker
He's not a traditional politician. So I think, you know, traditionally you get a pack of politicians in there and they'd look at this and go, well, the potential for recession or the potential for pain on the consumer's part, and it's in, from a political perspective, it's tough to tell the consumers or the voters that life's tough and you just got to deal with it. And, and I, so I think I, I do, I, I do like the fact that, that, you know, there is this element of, let's just try it. It's like with cutting waste and fraud out of the government.
- [11:05]
Kenneth Raposa
Right.
- [11:05]
Mike Baker
I mean, people talked about it for decades, generations, and nobody ever tries it because of just the general dysfunctional nature of Washington, D.C. but getting, getting to, back to the tariffs, it sounds like from what you're Saying it sounds like there's a number of ways that that additional cost can be absorbed, possibly absorbed by the manufacturer, may be absorbed by the consumer. So it's not one size fits all. And it's not as simple as saying, as you pointed out, you know, the prices are going to increase, therefore the consumer is going to pay more. Am I missing something there?
- [11:43]
Kenneth Raposa
It's not easy. This is, this is, this is harder than rocket science. You know, the, A rocket might have, you know, 10,000 pieces in it, but we import tens of thousands of, of items and we have tariff codes for tens of thousands of items. So this is harder than rocket science, really. And it's not, it's not going to be easy. But we cannot be afraid. The United States, since the days of Ross perot back in 1990s. And I know you're a Gen Xer. I'm pretty sure you are. And you know who Ross Perot is? The American.
- [12:11]
Mike Baker
Watch yourself there. That's easy.
- [12:13]
Kenneth Raposa
Easy.
- [12:14]
Mike Baker
That was, that was a. I, I feel like I've just been insulted on my own.
- [12:17]
Kenneth Raposa
No, come on. Ross the Giant something.
- [12:21]
Mike Baker
Maybe I'm, maybe I'm a millennial. Ken, you don't know that.
- [12:25]
Kenneth Raposa
Okay, all right, well, maybe you are, but still.
- [12:27]
Mike Baker
Okay, maybe I'm a baby boomer millennial.
- [12:29]
Kenneth Raposa
You know, news junkie. You would know who Rossborough is. So since that time though, right? Americans have. And on the American, the electorate has said the free trade deals, nafta, for example, not so sure. It's great for us because blue collar labor, which dominates the United States. Right. We're not all software engineers and doctors and lawyers or Wall street brokers. Those guys have been. Okay, I don't know if I can say this on the air, so I have to, I have to. Applause. So I got to.
- [12:59]
Mike Baker
I bet you can give it a, give it a try. No, give it a try.
- [13:03]
Kenneth Raposa
Have been screwed. Yeah. Okay. And government reports that have said this, okay. By the International Trade Commission, look it up. Frayed free trade deals were great for Walmart, they were great for Microsoft. These are, these are multinational corporations. They're not really interested in the homeland. Like, like me and you and our widget factory. Our widget factory is interested in the homeland. Microsoft is not interested in the homeland. They're not. So the electorate has said we want someone to pay attention to our interests. So a lot of times you hear people will say, oh, all these guys who import goods, they're going to be crushed. All these guys have a whole business importing goods from Vermont. They're going from Vietnam and Cambodia, they're going to be absolutely crushed. It's absolutely devastating. Okay, I get it. Look, yeah, there are companies in the United States, large and small, who have invested tens of millions of dollars, maybe even just hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies that have four or five people in it. And they are constantly being crushed by import penetration from around the world, from countries that no one can compete with because their wages are lower. Not because they're paying, being paid slave labor, but because their currency is worth the, the price of a, of a seashell at a gift shop at Cape Cod and source attraction in the summertime. So these are companies that countries that you cannot compete with on labor, okay. Alone. Not only that, when you look at a country like China, they heavily subsidize industries that they see being industries of the future and industries that they want to be dominant players in. You are not going to win that fight with the Chinese, period. So there is something you have to do. You can either say, forget it. We're going to throw our hands up in the air and we're going to deindustrialize like the Europeans and the British, or you could use tariffs and other measures because tariffs are not the sole solution to do something about it and take action. If you don't do anything about it. 5, 10, 15 years from now, instead of 60% of the cars that are on the road in the United States being American made, it'll be 40%, 30% until it's almost nothing. Because look at, look at places like Korea. Big car manufacturer in Korea. Everybody knows Hyundai and Kia. Those are the brands. I think it's 80% of cars on the road in Korea are made in Korea. Japan, 90%. Okay, great for them.
- [15:29]
Mike Baker
Yeah.
- [15:30]
Kenneth Raposa
So why. So the United States just saying, you know something, I don't need to be 100 of our cars. How about if it's 75? How about if it's 80? How about that? Can that possibly think the United States doesn't even have an auto industry anymore because of free trade. We have a North American auto industry now. It's over. And that's the reason why Trump can't even put tariffs on Mexico and Canada cars, because it would totally destroy the auto industry because America doesn't have an auto industry anymore. It's the North American auto industry now with Mexico and Canada. It's all entwined. You cannot take that apart without massive pain. So we already lost the auto industry in this country. And the auto industry in this country is the center of the hub of automation. What's the industry that decides we're going to automate? How do you automate? Is the auto industry. It's not the guys who make fabrics, it's not the guys who make airplanes. It's the auto industry that taught us how to automate.
- [16:23]
Mike Baker
It's obviously not the guys that make widgets either. I clearly know that. And so listen, if you can stay right where you are, don't. Yeah, don't go anywhere.
- [16:33]
Kenneth Raposa
We.
- [16:34]
Mike Baker
I've got a whole page full of questions here, but stay there if you can. And we'll be right back with Ken Raposa on the Situation Report.
- [16:44]
Steve Yates
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- [16:54]
Mike Baker
To I've got a complicated project.
- [16:56]
Steve Yates
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- [17:02]
Mike Baker
I just might have to do more.
- [17:04]
Steve Yates
Oh, okay.
- [17:05]
Kenneth Raposa
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- [17:07]
Steve Yates
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- [17:10]
Kenneth Raposa
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- [17:14]
Mike Baker
It is Ryan here and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win? Like are you a fist pumper, a.
- [17:20]
Kenneth Raposa
Woohooer, a hand clapper, a high fiver? I kind of like the high five.
- [17:24]
Mike Baker
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- [17:42]
Kenneth Raposa
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- [17:43]
Steve Yates
See terms and conditions 18+.
- [17:45]
Mike Baker
Welcome back to the PDP Situation Report. With us again is Ken Rabosa from the Coalition for a Prosperous America. We're talking all things tariffs. Ken, let me ask you this. I think people are confused over how we got over a number of years, how we got to a situation where so many countries out there have high tariffs on the US and it was clearly out of balance. But how did that happen over the years?
- [18:13]
Kenneth Raposa
Okay, well again, a lot of the countries that would that we trade with, like let's look at the EU for example. In the UK their t, their basic tariff was called the World Trade Organization. You know, you know, their baseline tariff, let's say ours is 3.4%. Theirs might be, I think the UK is 3.9 or 4 and maybe the EU's is 5. So it's not a huge difference. But what Trump is complaining about, what Trump team is complaining about, is that it's not the tariff, it's the non tariff barriers. So let's say for example, you, you and I, we have that widget factory. We're trying to make some money, right? So we got our widget and it's a beautiful widget, but our widget weighs 10 pounds. And the rule in, in Europe for this type of widget is it can only weigh 11. Then you and I spent a lot of money making an 11 pound widget and then Europe says it's got to be 12 pounds. So it's constant barrier for us so they can protect their local widget guys also, which is something that all Americans have heard of, I'm sure in the news is, it's what Capitol Hill always complains about is the phytosanitary measures. These are measures on food and animal care where the Europeans and the British will say, we don't want to import your beef, we don't want to import your chicken because you give them a certain vaccine that we don't want. Or you had a case of mad cows or whatever it may be, right? And so that is the way that, that blocks trade. So there's a lot of other issues that the Trump administration has looked at. And then of course the other issue would be balanced trade. So where, where other countries that we have a huge trade deficit with, of course the EU is the second only to China, which is big but declining because of the tariffs of 2017. In the UK we have a surplus. So I was actually kind of surprised with the tariff on there. But I believe that the reason for the tariff on the UK is because they might become a transshipment point for the European Union in some way, right? Where the European Union say, you know, our multinationals in UK and UK we'll, we'll ship it through there or whatever. But the UK has a 10 tariff. Again, the reason why it, it's higher is because a lot of these countries, especially in the emerging world like India and China, they want to protect their own industry, they want their industries to be to, to grow and they want to protect labor.
- [20:35]
Mike Baker
Okay.
- [20:36]
Kenneth Raposa
I don't know if you ever been to India.
- [20:37]
Mike Baker
So what was that? Why, why wasn't there pushback? Why wasn't there pushback from previous administrations against this?
- [20:42]
Kenneth Raposa
It's very simple. It's very simple because the consumer is king. We have, we have to be able to fill our garages not with cars. We have to fill our garages with ski mobiles, canoes, children's playsets, toys no one uses skis that have been. No one's used 50,000 pairs of shoes. That's why they want, they want you to buy all these things. No one buys like the United States. No one's ever going to be a consumer like the United States. The average American consumer has a $6,000 revolving debt on their credit card. And in the UK I think it's 2,000. In Japan, it's zero. So, I mean, you know, that's why they'd have a complaint. They wanted the United States. The United States is the, is the free market. There is no other free market but the United States. Yeah. Singapore has zero tariffs. Okay. Singapore. Okay. California is like, I mean, the Massachusetts economy is probably bigger than, than Singapore, you know, so, I mean, you know, whatever. Good. Good for. Good for them. Right? So, you know, they never complained because they thought that as long as Americans could buy cheap goods and their shop until they drop, then their Wall street was fine with that. And of course, the Capitol Hill was fine with that. And so, you know, but look, even.
- [21:51]
Mike Baker
A happy consumer is a happy voter, you know, so maybe there's a connection.
- [21:55]
Kenneth Raposa
Happy voter, you know, but we have not always seen that, though, have we? Because the consumer's been very happy for a long time. You know, consumers have been very happy for a long time. And there's been unrest in this country political because of the, because of global trade, because of how that is set up, and because politicians are not listening to what Americans are saying on that issue since the 1990s. Where we are today is because of that. You know, you got Trump. And that has been his centerpiece argument for, you know, since 2016. He ran on, on trade. Right.
- [22:27]
Mike Baker
And that's an interesting point, Ken, because, you know, certainly in the US Here, a number of people are acting shocked at, you know, what the announcement was on, on Liberation Day, by the way, I don't know if Liberation Day is going to be an official government holiday.
- [22:42]
Steve Yates
What.
- [22:43]
Mike Baker
One can only hope. But I think, you know, there was this shock, right, from, from at least inside the U.S. i think there was less surprise from, from the, from the global players, because I think they've been anticipating this better perhaps than. And maybe it's just a media response and it's just a negative media response because that's what you're going to get with the Trump administration. I don't know.
- [23:04]
Kenneth Raposa
Look. Oh, no, The Atlantic and The Democratic advocacy media was shocked by Trump. I mean, I don't even know what to say to that. It's like, of course, he could literally come out and say, we found an alien race and they're going to cure cancer and they're friendly and here's their big spaceship and they're going to teach us how to travel at warp speed. And, and it would be like, what these guys, you know, it would be the, the end of the world. It's the apocalypse. So, I mean, yeah, how dare he totally discount anything, anything that they say. Now, as far as the rest of the world goes, no, the Europeans are absolutely beside themselves with grief. The economic. The Economist today is talking about how this is the end of the world is a big image of orange man Trump carving out the United States from the rest of the planet. Like, you know, we're somehow the bad guys and we hate the rest of the world and we're giving the rest of the world the big middle finger and tell them to go fend for themselves. The United States has been the consumer market for all of their goods forever. And all we're saying is, can we please, can we please be a consumer of our own goods? Not all, not 100%, but some. Can it, can it be possible? We don't have antibiotics in this country that we make, at least not in big numbers. We have one company that makes amoxicillin, which is a penicillin, which would have saved you from COVID if you had it in 2011. I can call one company on my hand. So Ireland is going to cry about all that because they're the big pharmaceutical guys because they lowered tax taxes or whatever the tax rate is in order to attract all American pharmaceutical companies there. Look, what if you did have all of these, all of these medications? What if your country didn't have it? What would you think about it? If you want us just to be totally import dependent, this is, this is a terrible idea. So the United States is saying, we're still going to trade with the world. We still want to buy your BMWs and Jaguars. Okay, that's not going to end, but we want you to invest in our country if you don't want to. An American consumer decides he's not going to buy the BMW, okay, he's going to buy a, a Tesla instead or whatever, then that's their prerogative. And that, that's you, you know, that you, you failed. And I also, I will say this. I believe BMW has a factory in Mexico so they could stop crying. Because they could just ship cars from Mexico to United.
- [25:25]
Mike Baker
Yeah, you've given us the best case scenario earlier in the conversation. Give me the worst case scenario.
- [25:32]
Kenneth Raposa
Okay, well, I did give you a worst case, too, because I said, again, using our amazing widget factory, I said that if we require parts from Vietnam and Southeast Asia in order to make our widget, and we're just a small company with 10 guys running the show, that we are going to be in trouble because we can't tell those guys, hey, let's up the ante, and instead of buying a thousand, we're going to buy 2000, because maybe we don't have the money to do that. We got to go to our banker and we got to get out a loan to do those things for, for our Vietnamese, for US Suppliers to say, okay, I'll lower the price for you because you're increasing your volume. We might not be able to do that. And so when we order those goods from a customer and a custom broker is going to call us up and say, hey, Ken, you just ordered, you know, $100,000 worth of goods is coming out of maersk ship on June 1st, and you owe us. You got, you got to deposit $100,000 with customs. You know, that's a, that's going to be a problem. That's going to be a headache for us. That's going to be a big headache for us.
- [26:23]
Mike Baker
And that's, and that's for the, that's for, yeah, that's, that's for the manufacturers. That's for the, that's for the importers. That's for the people on the business side. What about the, the con, the consumers. Right. Because again, there's this, this concept here that, you know what's happening. These, this tariff regime could send the U.S. and, and, you know, parts of the world into a recession. So talk to me about that. And doesn't that imply that, look, if the economy heads south in that, in that regard, you know, we did say he's different. He's a, he's a, he's a disruptor. He doesn't, he doesn't really care about, he doesn't really care about politics in the traditional sense. But the party does. Right?
- [27:05]
Kenneth Raposa
And look at this.
- [27:06]
Mike Baker
You know, if they go ahead.
- [27:08]
Kenneth Raposa
Yeah, okay, you and I, not our widget factory. I'll give myself an example, because I, we're sick. We have, we, we're sick. We're, we're diet. The doctor says you're diabetic, you got to stop eating the chocolate cake. Every day or you're going to be on dialysis. I can't, I can't stop eating chocolate cake. I must keep eating it because I love it. Okay? That's the story. You're going to be on dialysis by the time you're 60 years old and you'll be living on it until you're dead. Or I can say, okay, I'm going to stop eating chocolate cake as much as it sucks. And the doctor says you're, you're, you're in fine. Help. I'm not too happy about this fact that I'm not gonna eat chocolate cake, but at least I'm happy in the long term that I'm going to be healthier. This is long term. We're thinking long term here. We're thinking, what do I going to do to rearrange global trade? Because the way global trade is now, it is set to manufacture things in Asia. Yes, the United States innovates, but after we innovate, we don't mass produce Asia. Masses produce. Look, there's a company in my home state, Massachusetts, called Boston Dynamics. They make those stupid, ugly robotic dogs that you've probably seen and some cyborg robots.
- [28:18]
Mike Baker
You really, you really, you really don't like those dogs, do you?
- [28:22]
Kenneth Raposa
No, I don't like those.
- [28:24]
Mike Baker
And I've seen those, I've seen those robotic dogs. They're, they're amazingly cute. Actually, let me interrupt you just for a second, though. Let me, let me interrupt you because, let me interrupt you because you said something really interesting that I want to pick up on, which is, it's a, it's, this is long term. This is long term. But look, I, I think maybe we can agree that the average American doesn't think in the long term, right? We make very quick decisions. Everyone's got adhd and so. Do you see what I'm saying?
- [28:55]
Kenneth Raposa
I, I do. I do. Well, what country thinks long term that we're always worried about surpassing the United States. Hmm. What, what, what place in the world is it? The Europeans? Are we worried about the Europeans? No, we're not worried about the Europeans. Is it the Brazilians? No, we're not worried about them. Who's the long term planners that we're so worried about taking over? Us. It's the Chinese they don't think about.
- [29:15]
Mike Baker
But the. Look, look, I guess, I guess my point, Ken, is, is I. It seems like we might be glossing over this idea that, that the American public is willing to take long term pain, you know, for, for something like this, you Can't, I mean, comparing it to the Chinese culture I think is problematic because that's, that's a whole different world. Yeah, I agree with you.
- [29:36]
Kenneth Raposa
Okay, so it's not going to be long term pain like we're going to be suffering for, for years. You know what I mean? Going back to our widget factory, we might be suffering for a few months and hopefully we don't go out of business. Honestly, I, I don't, I don't know. And I will say this. And, and maybe some companies will, maybe some companies will go out of business. That is absolutely true. Okay. But I will tell you this. There are many people who manufacture in the United States, like the United Oil workers who also went out of business, tens of thousands, millions over the years because of the policy that has been in place since the 1980s. You can keep doing that. You can keep doing that and with every passing year you will have less and less opportunity for blue collar workers. They're not going to, they're not going to work for Bain, they're not going to work for the McKinsey group, whatever it's called. They're not going to all become doctors and brain surgeons. They're not going to work for Wall street. And you know what else, what's going to happen? They're not going to work for AI companies developing software because they're not all geniuses. And what's going to happen to that service sector on the tech side, when China competes with Microsoft and Adobe and intel, they might not compete with them, they might not compete with open AI in the United States market, but when the Vietnamese and the Brazilians want an AI platform and the Chinese say we charge you only $10, the Americans say we charge 200. Ah, well, now the service industry is going to start to cry and they're going to understand what it's like that manufacturers have been dealing with for a very long time. They're going to understand the pain.
- [31:19]
Mike Baker
That's a really interesting element of this, I think. And, and look, I, I think from, from my perspective, I think it's excellent. I think it's about time that the US tries to rebalance the, you know, the global trade situation. I think that's, I think that's a very good thing to do. I think trying to onshore manufacturing, I drink all of those things. I think it makes sense. And I also agree with your very initial point, which is consistency is going to be important here. And it does look like, you know, right off the bat that there may be some, you know, Negotiation going on for individual countries, perhaps. But I also kind of like the idea that, you know, this is, in a way, you could argue it's apolitical. Right. Our allies have been hit, the tariffs just like our adversaries.
- [32:10]
Kenneth Raposa
Absolutely.
- [32:11]
Mike Baker
So I think that's also important. Yeah, so. So I like the idea. I guess what I'm, I'm concerned about when I look at this is the, the, the downside, potential impact on, on the, the ability for this to go for the long term. As you said, it has to be consistent and has to be long term. And if the economy heads south for a period of time, you know what the voters are like and.
- [32:38]
Kenneth Raposa
Yep. It's possible that could create a real problem. Yeah, possible. Any, anything in life is possible. Anything is possible, right? I mean. Yes.
- [32:47]
Mike Baker
Wait a second, Ken, wait a second. Did you just make up that saying? Yeah, right.
- [32:52]
Kenneth Raposa
Anything.
- [32:52]
Mike Baker
Did you make up that saying anything in life is possible?
- [32:54]
Kenneth Raposa
Well, let me give you another saying. And, and again, we were talking off, offline about us being an X types. And I want to give you another saying from the great, from the great Jedi Master Yoda who said there is no.
- [33:06]
Mike Baker
And you're geeking out on me now, buddy.
- [33:08]
Kenneth Raposa
Don't do. Do or don't do. There is no.
- [33:11]
Mike Baker
Try.
- [33:11]
Kenneth Raposa
You either do it or you don't do it. You can stay with the status quo. It's fine. We already know what the status quo is going to lead to. We already know. We already know. Europe knows it's deindustrializing. The European Central bank governor, former president Mario Draghi wrote a big report on this. UK knows it's de. Industrializing. It's lucky to grow at half percent. Their market is in free fall right now because their market depends on us. Jaguar, which is owned by an Indian company called Tata Motors, it's not even a British company anymore. They are worried they can't sell Jaguars. That is ridiculous. Because if you and I want a Jaguar and we can afford a Jaguar, we are going to buy a Jaguar. We're not going to replace it with a Subaru Forester. We're going to buy a Jaguar. The Subaru Forester does not compete with the Jaguar.
- [33:57]
Mike Baker
You know, I had a Subaru Forester when I was younger and it's a, it's a, it's a great car. It's a hell of a car.
- [34:03]
Kenneth Raposa
And I mentioned the Subaru Forester because I have one in my driveway. But I'm telling you, it's not a Jaguar. I would rather have a Jaguar, but I Can't afford a Jaguar. And if you want a genic, why you are going to buy a Jaguar. That is, that is the fact. Look, there's going to be pain. If it's that horrific, then Trump can reverse course. Hopefully it's not that horrific. I believe what we're going to see. So just to explain the audience what we saw in Liberation Day there was, if you assume this, a baseline tariff of 10%, okay, all countries, this is supposed to be non negotiable. And then the tariff rose higher. So other countries might have a 40% tariff, such as the case in Vietnam. 46%, I think it is. So that might get negotiated lower because they might say, okay, you agree to, I don't know, lower your tariffs on motorcycles, where I'm just not making it up. As if the Vietnamese son's not importing tons of Harley Davidson's, you know, I mean, they could actually import a Harley Davidson from Thailand because Thailand, Harley makes Harley Davidson in Thailand. So it's irrelevant. Even if they were to say something like that, you'd be a fool if you fell for that. But they could say something like that and Trump could probably fall for it and then that tariff gets lowered. Okay, that's a possibility. But there will be a limit. There's, or there should be. Because if Trump is going to say that tariffs are X on Monday and now they're, you know, Y on the following Monday, meaning, you know, they're non existent, that is not good for business and market sentiment because business and market sentiment needs certainty. If the market understands that tariffs are 10% period or 15% period, that's it, end of story. They can adjust to the new economic regime. If they think that it's going to be 10 and then two weeks later it's going to be nothing and we're going to go back, it's too confusing. And they're not and the market's going to be volatile. And again, back to our widget factory. We're not know whether we should be buying more from, from Mexico or ending our relationship with our Vietnamese suppliers who we love and we love going to hang out with them in the summertime on the beaches of, in Vietnam or if we should call our friend from college and tell him, hey, we'll pay, you know, the American price, which is a little bit more money for your widget.
- [36:13]
Mike Baker
So, you know, I think the inconsistency. Sorry to interrupt, Kim, but I'm mindful of time now is, is also problematic not just from sort of the business mindset. But also from an operational perspective, inconsistency in this is, is going to really play havoc with the logistics and global supply chain concerns for a variety of reasons. But look, I, this has been fantastic. I really appreciate you taking the time to, to sit with us and explain this. What I'd love to do is have you back on in a couple of months where we can analyze the current state of play, you know, what's happened over the past several weeks. And so that would be excellent. And I also hope, and this is, this is sincere, I hope that Liberation Day does become a regular holiday and has great traditions like picnicking and excess drinking. That's my.
- [36:57]
Kenneth Raposa
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And as I said in a compact magazine piece I did this week is that, you know, you could break out the Grizzly Cooler, which is made in the United States, or a Royal Master Grill, which is also made in the United States, some of them anyway.
- [37:09]
Mike Baker
So look at you. So that's two very good plugs. All right.
- [37:16]
Kenneth Raposa
And they're not members of the coalition.
- [37:19]
Mike Baker
That's right. No, that's right. All right, Ken, listen, Ken Raposa, the Coalition for a Prosperous America. This has been great. Thank you again for joining us and look forward to the next conversation. Man, there's a lot to unpack there when we're talking tariffs. I guess that was, that was, you know, part of that conversation was to try to say it's not just this or that. It's not as simple. And that's probably true for most things. All right. China just wrapped up two days of military drills around Taiwan. It's part show of force and it's part warning. Beijing has also unleashed a fresh wave of threats, calling Taiwan's new president a, quote, parasite. So what message is Xi Jinping really sending? Well, I think he's sending the message that he doesn't like the Taiwanese president. Steve Yates from the Heritage foundation joins us next to break it down. Welcome back to the PDB Situation Report. China is once again turning up the pressure on Taiwan. This week, the Chinese military staged two days of war games around the island, deploying fighter jets, naval vessels and long range rocket units in what Beijing called a, quote, strong punishment for Taiwan's new president, Lai Ching De. In addition to the military hardware, Chinese officials also deployed some, well, let's call it interesting propaganda, releasing a short animated video calling President Lai a parasite and accusing him of pushing the island closer to war. Lai, for his part, has called for peace and stability, but, well, China clearly isn't buying it. So you ask yourself what's behind this latest round of saber rattling and how serious is the threat? Those are all good questions. Joining us now to answer them is Steve Yates. He's a senior research fellow for China and national security policy at the Heritage Foundation. Steve, thanks very much for coming back on THE SITUATION report.
- [39:08]
Steve Yates
Pleasure. Of course, this latest round of aggressive boycott exercises is very provocative. It would probably be dominating a lot of the news cycle if we hadn't had a major announcement about tariffs everywhere in the world, because I think this is the most provocative move to date by the People's Republic of China.
- [39:31]
Mike Baker
Why do you, why do you say that?
- [39:33]
Steve Yates
Because it really drew a line that you could literally read from space that cut Taiwan off from Japan, from the Philippines, from the Pacific, and blocked traffic going north and south through the Taiwan Strait. And so whether they have the capabilities to sustain this, whether they have the intent to hit and blow things up on the island of Taiwan, all those things are to be determined. But I think this is basically auditioning for what kind of reaction do we get from Washington, Tokyo, others and from Taiwan? And are we just able to slow cook this frog to where we're just going to take it by these exercises and cut off transit?
- [40:16]
Mike Baker
Well, what kind of reaction are they getting so far? Has there been any reaction from the White House, for example?
- [40:21]
Steve Yates
Well, as far as I can discern, there hasn't been a clear reaction, partly because all communications have been nuked by the conversation about tariffs, including Taiwan being listed. On the one hand, they were listed as a country on the fact sheet, something that made them smile and then the tariff number was up, something that did not make them smile. But here they were, having had a private sector rep from their TSMC come to the White house and promise $100 billion of investment in the United States, something they hope would blunt getting tariffs levied their way to waking up to find that they're in the next round of conversations of how are we going to recalibrate this strategic economic relationship. State Department was pretty clear in saying that it is China that is destabilizing the status quo, that the US Policy is pretty clearly against any form of coercion or violence redefining what Taiwan's relationship is with China. So I think in terms of the words they've been right. And Secretary Hegseth just out in the region, going to the Philippines and Japan also going to Guam. These are geographies that are relevant and trying to enhance deterrence.
- [41:39]
Mike Baker
Okay. Yeah. Now it's, it's interesting you note that, you know, Taiwan was Hit with the tariffs. I mean, a variety of allies were right. Israel was hit with. With tariffs, even though that they canceled their tariffs on the U.S. the European Union. Of course. What other reaction has come out of Taiwan at this point? Have they talked about retaliatory measures?
- [41:59]
Steve Yates
So the President of Taiwan has communicated through that new global medium known as X. It used to be we'd have press conferences and coverage on television, but on X, he, I thought he gave a pretty smart response. Said that they had already made efforts to lower barriers to trade and they'd offered a lot of generous investment in the United States. They remained committed to that friendly relationship and essentially look forward to continuing the conversation. So I thought he did a wise job of not overdoing the reaction, as people are kind of shocked to see what the announcement was. And I thought there was a degree of truth that they are looking at investing in a lot of parts of the United States. And it's up to them to kind of propose what next steps they want to put on the table and see whether the administration pulls down those numbers. But those numbers are calculated in ways that are very different than the U.S. trade Representative's methodologies in the past. And so it's not just looking at reciprocal tariff rates. They're looking at trade imbalances and putting that into the formulation. So I think there's a little bit of thought that needs to go into how to respond to that and maybe a little thought on the US Side about how to take the responses from others that say, uncle, we, we want to deal with you. We are your friend. What can we do?
- [43:22]
Mike Baker
Yeah. Looking at the. Going back to the issue of the. The recent military drills, what do you make of what appears to be, at the same time, them ramping up propaganda, sort of a covert action campaign? Do you put any significance to that, or is it just kind of a. An aspect of what they typically would do anyway?
- [43:43]
Steve Yates
No, I think we're seeing them testing all parts of their apparatus. And so with the Communist Party, really, with any rational war power, you would want to have information war as part of what you were doing, as your strategy towards success. But the Communist Party is information warfare first and foremost. So we've seen them test physical capabilities, and we've seen them test from time to time trade and agriculture, points of pressure to see if they can force, points of pain and compromise. And this information war, I think, has been taken up a notch. And that information war has been aimed at the United States, too. And it's been pretty blunt and belligerent. If you ask me. And so we haven't really seen the Trump administration take the bait to get a no tit for tat on the, on the information war yet. But I think we do need to take it seriously that they are practicing every piece of what they would have in mind to use if they took look to take decisive action. Cyber information, this boycotting and then also having real classical military capabilities.
- [44:56]
Mike Baker
Well, I mean I think they have in a sense, maybe this is not the correct way to view it but you know, the fact that they've now got what, 54% tariffs on, on all goods coming out of China, you could argue maybe that's their response. It's not just an economic move, it's not just about rebalancing trade. Maybe they're trying to send another message to the Chinese regime.
- [45:20]
Steve Yates
I don't think you're wrong about that. I think that there is an intended signal to say we have leverage and you know, you don't have that many options to our vast consumer market. You can say we're dependent on your goods, but your economy is actually at greater risk than ours is and you've been playing around in this Taiwan stuff. But now I'm going to raise the stakes and you've got some domestic things you need to face. I think there's some logic to that. The only question I have is how it plays out in a completely controlled information environment in China. And so we'll see. We're not in an information war where the environments are equal or similar on both sides.
- [46:03]
Mike Baker
That's it. You know what I, I, it's a bit of a sidetrack here, but that's a really interesting subject.
- [46:09]
Kenneth Raposa
Right.
- [46:10]
Mike Baker
In your experience and from, you know, your time working this region, what is the access like for the average Chinese citizen on the mainland to outside information?
- [46:23]
Steve Yates
Well, it's changed a lot over time and some of it is by government direction and some of it's like do I want to risk the hassle? So I'm just going to self censor what I'm looking for and what I really care about. And I think that in recent years they're getting a lot of their news and information like they've gotten the rest of the world on short form video and texting apps, not necessarily consuming everything the Central Television channel puts out. The older generation definitely still consumes that, but say the 18 to 38 year old demographic is getting a lot of their information on WeChat and different kinds of social media platforms and they have algorithmic control where they can literally eliminate certain words from being used and security can come ask you questions. And this was perfected during the COVID experience. And so a lot of Chinese people are choosing not to consume information that would maybe get a knock at the door or some kind of a hassle. And they have facial recognition, social credit score where it can affect your ability to enter the subway or high speed rail on family vacations if you don't play. Right. So they've got much, much more control. That said, family members seem to find ways to get things in. VPNs can still work, but they're not perfect. And there's still kind of a question if after a generation of cult like control over information, even if I got the truth to you, are you ready to receive it? There's a little bit of an allegory of cave situation where you know, you come out of the dark, you can't, you're not ready for the full light. And so what kind of information can get to them? I think the most effective thing you can do is to try to raise doubts about the survivability of their economic systems. Raise doubts about what do these princelings of grandkids and kids that are the pride and joy of two generations of a family, whether they've got the opportunity they deserve and is Taiwan really worth it. That I think is an area where we could press more.
- [48:30]
Mike Baker
It's interesting what you said about being inundated with information. It reminds me of. This is apropos, absolutely nothing. I'm just warning our, our viewers, but we had a, we had a Russian defector years and years and years and years and years ago, dead now, who was moved to the States and he just standing in a, in a grocery store, just sort of just spaced out. He was standing in front of a vast array of different types and brands of orange juice. Just wanted orange juice, right? But then he went to get orange juice and he was just, he was overwhelmed by the, the volume. You know, it's not a perfect analogy to what you were talking about, but it's not.
- [49:12]
Steve Yates
Well, but I, but I think there is an analogy. It's just not in the consumer goods, which definitely was a part of the Moscow and the Hudson kind of experience that you were describing. But in terms of thought, if you don't live in free speech, you don't even live in free avenues of information, you have that similar experience just in your mind and your social media. So that's probably a bit of that that we're going to have to wrestle with if the Great Wall firewall of China comes down some.
- [49:39]
Mike Baker
Yeah, at some point. Steve, stay right there. All right. I've got a whole long list of questions still for you, but we have to take a quick break and then we'll be right back with Steve Yates on the Situation report. Welcome back to the PDB Situation Report. We're joined once again by Steve Yates, senior research fellow for China and National Security Policy at the Heritage Foundation. Steve, thanks very much for sticking around. We've been talking all things China and Taiwan. Let me ask you this. It's going to seem like a disjointed question to throw at you, but there's a reason for it. What do we know about the, the health of Xi Jinping and what do we know about his hold on power at this stage?
- [50:24]
Steve Yates
Well, this, this is kind of a really interesting line of inquiry, and it's one I've lived with my whole life. And I wish I could say that after 35 plus years of studying and watching this and dealing with people in the intelligence community and government and private sector, that we had a better read today than we did way back then. And I would argue we actually don't. I think that Xi Jinping is more isolated. We know less about what the actual state of his health is. We're sort of left back to what we used to do in old Kremlinology and seeing pictures of leaders in public. Does he look puffy? Does he look frail? Who's standing next to them? Are they close? Are they far? Who's getting carted out of the meeting? What does that mean? And so there's just a lot of old, very imprecise statecraft that is being used in, in this right now. There's a lot of theories about people in the military that are unhappy with Xi Jinping. They've moved very far in terms of getting money and being able to develop platforms with there's quality control questions. And nobody cares more about the people in the military than the people in the military. And if they're treated like potential cannon fodder going out on untested platforms, they might actually be less bold than some politico behind closed walls in the leadership compound in Beijing. And so there's always tales about stresses and strains, and Xi has done a good job of disappearing, killing and prosecuting people who wanted to challenge him. That creates deterrent at first, resentment over time, and we have to see how all that will play out. But we're flying blind. We have our military attaches, we have intelligence, we have diplomatic channels. We have foreign friends who are trying to help us. But I would just argue in 2025, we have a less clear picture of that than we did at the time of the Tiananmen massacre. And trying to figure out why they did what they did at that time.
- [52:20]
Mike Baker
Yeah, that's okay. That's really interesting. The reason for going down that. That path is that if you look at the timeline, everybody always wants to know when's China going to move on Taiwan?
- [52:34]
Kenneth Raposa
Right.
- [52:34]
Mike Baker
And then they want to know, what's that going to look like. But the question of when, I would argue again, maybe I'm wrong. It hasn't happened yet. But I could be, is it could depend on Xi Jinping's health, because he could view this as his most important legacy. Right. So is he really going to step down, step aside before a move, whatever it looks like on Taiwan? So that's why I was asking you about his health.
- [53:03]
Steve Yates
Yeah, so I've heard that a lot, and I think it could be true. We have to sort of factor it into our calculus as one of the dominant theories. But there's also the risk side of that. And parts of the Communist Party are going to be rational, and Xi Jinping may not be, but there's a lot of reason for them to doubt that this will be easy for them, that it will be a quick and easy perfect victory. And that's what would work for a dying Xi Jinping. If he wants to have a legacy. What would undermine that legacy is if you push the issue, there's some kind of kinetic disruption. It smolders for a bit. And coming out the other end is not a Taiwan that is successfully integrated with the broader People's Republic. China's economy suffers greatly because of that risk being taken, and the CCP is in a worse position. That's also a rational scenario. And it just comes down to that old Sting song applied, you know, do the Russians love their children, too? Do the Chinese care about what comes after the initiation of this? And if they do, that legacy issue for Xi is not as clean a proposition of I'm dying. I'd like to go ahead and take this now. There's a lot of downside for them.
- [54:20]
Mike Baker
Look at you with your cultural pull of a Sting song.
- [54:24]
Steve Yates
We'll see how many listeners even remember Sting.
- [54:28]
Mike Baker
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean. Oh, hey, come on. The police. Are you kidding me? Wow.
- [54:33]
Steve Yates
Hey, I'm there, I'm there. I just.
- [54:35]
Mike Baker
Yeah, my son.
- [54:36]
Steve Yates
No, he doesn't have any.
- [54:37]
Mike Baker
Fantastic. Although I will say this, the song you cited from Sting. Not, not my favorite, but still, it.
- [54:42]
Steve Yates
Wasn'T the police either, so sing solo.
- [54:44]
Mike Baker
Oh, I know, I know. It was stinging. He got a little self indulgent. I'm just saying. So how well defended is Taiwan?
- [54:53]
Steve Yates
It's very well defended. In, in some ways it's just old adage that it's a lot easier to hit and break something than it is to defend it against that kind of thing in terms of just the sheer volume of potential incoming. So if China chose to just shower the island of Taiwan with unrelenting missiles, there's a significant amount of capability to thwart some of that, but it could be overwhelmed. But then you basically have a fried island. You don't get the semiconductors, you don't get the people. I don't know what you got, but. And then I think Ukraine has awakened some people to the notion of the corollary to that it's easier for them to hit than it is to control and hold. And so Taiwan has done things to make their society more resilient, to make their power supply more resilient. They got a long way to go on that they do have meaningful military capabilities to try to hold out for a time. But what is that time? I think there's a lot of questions about at what point energy runs out for Taiwan and at what point does energy run out for China. They don't have unlimited supplies to run a significant war machine. So there's just a lot of open ended inquiry when, when we're looking at all of that. But I, you know, I, I still think that we're in a risk of a crisis all the time from now until there isn't a Communist party in China anymore. And we've just got, I think, balance that with more engagement from Japan, maybe a little from the Philippines and complicate stuff and buy time.
- [56:34]
Mike Baker
What, what's your perspective on the pla, on the, on the Chinese regime's military in terms of an invasion, again, whatever that would look like. I agree with that. Can't imagine it's going to look like a series of missile barrages and that, that just destroy the, you know, the island. That seems counter to, you know, the, the Chinese regime's mindset, I think. But as far as the military goes, is, is that, is that even possible? Would they look and say why would we attack other Chinese? I mean, do they, and here's, I guess part of that question is do they view Taiwanese as, as Chinese in a sense, so they'd be shooting at each Other.
- [57:19]
Steve Yates
Yeah, they. They play games with this, and it's not so easy for the foreigners to follow along in the games they play with it. But they sort of console themselves with they can murder all the people they want because those were Taiwan independence activists and those were splittists, as they call them. And so they're no longer proper Chinese nationalistic people. And so they can be fodder. On the other hand, the whole reason they say that this belongs to them is that allegedly it's a society of Chinese people just like them. So contradiction is written right into the Communist Party DNA when it comes. When it comes down to it. But they've worked in their own justification that because of politics, ideology, not ethnicity, that there are key elements of Taiwan that are worthy of getting smoked.
- [58:04]
Mike Baker
This is. I. I just guess I hate to ask this question, right, because I know you're expecting it. And it's always one of those that did. You know, we're just speculating here, but from all those years of dealing with the region, what do you think this is going to look like?
- [58:21]
Steve Yates
Well, I think that aggression with blockades, the aggression against the Philippines, the sort of other, other areas of trouble, they've really galvanized that first island chain in a way that's never existed since World War II. Now it's the beginning of that reaction. Not full readiness on their part. I think that actually is an asset to the United States, and it complicates things for Beijing. I think that the military platforms they have, they have a lot of big ticket items, a lot of fighter jets, a lot of sea vessels. Some of these things are really easy to see from far away. And so if the U.S. japan, others are interested in willing, they can pretty much take a lot of that stuff out of commission quickly. So you could end up with a lot of Chinese material going in. Looks overwhelming in an initial phase, but there's a lack of training and experience on their warfighters. Those platforms might not have good quality control. We have to see. So I have a lot of suspicion of how that would play out, but I suspect that there'll be some effort at significant coercion in the next couple of years. I don't think it'll be an absolute invasion or outright military assault, but some effort at serious coercion. And we'll have to see whether the United States and its allies have the moxie to do to China what was threatened to Russia and how that affects China's economy. I wouldn't want to test that today under current plans and capabilities But I do know that there are thoughts and plans to try to improve that option set, and I hope they're going at light speed.
- [60:05]
Kenneth Raposa
Well, I tell you what, you just.
- [60:06]
Mike Baker
Uttered the secret word of the day, Moxie. So you, you win a prize, which is exciting. It's like the old Tonight show when the duck would fly. I. Never mind. Now I'm dating myself.
- [60:17]
Steve Yates
It's a classy hotel chain.
- [60:18]
Mike Baker
Steve, listen, thank you very much. You got to come back because, you know, we've really just kind of scratched the surface on this, this whole thing, and there's other parts of it that I really want to talk to you about. So I hope you'll come back when we call you. Steve Yates, Heritage Foundation. Listen, man, thank you again for joining us. Well, that is all the time that we have for this week's PDB Situation Report. Don't look so sad.
- [60:41]
Steve Yates
Come on.
- [60:42]
Mike Baker
We'll be back next week. If you have any questions or comments or humorous anecdotes, or if you have any suggestions for how we should celebrate going forward. Liberation Day, Right. What traditions should we have every year? Well, just reach out to me. It's PDB at the first tv.com Send me your thoughts. And every month with your questions, our amazing team selects a bunch of them and they produce one of our critically acclaimed Ask Me Anything episodes. Finally, to listen to the podcast of this show ad free. Yes, you can do that. Become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker, and until next time, stay informed, stay safe, stay co.