During an earlier G20 discussion of technology in a fast digital age, President Trump highlighted the potential security compromises with the new 5G communication network.  This was an indirect shot toward China and the controversy surrounding Huawei with China’s Chairman Xi Jinping only separated from Trump by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

It would appear President Trump is in full confrontation mode, albeit diplomatically, as the highly anticipated meeting between Trump and Xi is going to take place at 10:30pm tonight.  We are likely, heck, almost guaranteed, to see a complete reversal in position between the two leaders as President Trump wears the panda mask to cover the Eagle glare.  This truly is the dance with the dragon.
After several years of background strategy, President Trump now has Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping in a tenuous position while the ramifications of the U.S-China trade dispute unfold around him and seemingly begin to collapse the One-Belt/One-Road supply chain Beijing has carefully planned.  Actual manufacturing and investment is now retreating from China as the U.S. President continues to use access to the U.S. market as leverage to retract the tentacles of Chinese economic expansion.
President Trump has a quiver full of economic arrows that are available to him; not the least of which is the possibility of enhanced tariffs toward even more Chinese products. Beijing cannot keep subsidizing industry to keep position, they are bleeding cash and the threats against Western corporations have only made matters worse.
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This is just too damned funny.  You cannot make this stuff up.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is campaigning in Miami with a bunch of SEIU (Service Employee International Union) workers.  (Video Below)
And somehow, the doofus from New York thinks it would be a good thing at the Miami International Airport to cheer:  “Hasta la victoria, siempre“.  A very famous rallying cry from communist leader Che Guevara as he led the murder of thousands of Latinos.

Many Latinos in Miami-Dade fled from various communist regimes in Cuba and Central America; and many Miami residents actually have relatives who were killed by Guevara’s political terror teams.
For Latinos to hear a New Yorker shout “Hasta la victoria, siempre” generates an autonomic response that is seriously angry.   If you don’t know the community, you just cannot overemphasize how big a bone-headed deal that is.
Yes, the New York limo-liberal crowd and the Antifa loons loves them some Che Guevara.  However, in the vast majority of the real Latino communities, ESPECIALLY Miami-Dade, even mentioning that name is likely to trigger someone to kick your ass. [Not kidding]
Apparently, after a few hours, someone told Bill deBlasio how stupid that was; and the doofus sends out a tweet saying he didn’t know.   Which, is strangely, even funnier.
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In the dynamic of President Trump confronting Chairman Xi over Chinese trade and manufacturing practices there are critical members of the U.S. team, each with a role to play.  Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are the most important members.
Secretary Ross explains the position of the U.S. team as they head to the G20. WATCH:

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As we discussed yesterday, Chinese anxiety is off-the-charts.  When China gets into this high-anxiety disposition, they immediately -predictably- drop the Panda mask, and lash-out with Red Dragon antagonisms.  This is happening right now.
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Sometimes we just read and think; sometimes we just read and laugh. This is the latter.
China continually looks at President Trump and the U.S. trade position through the wrong prism. Those around Chairman Xi genuinely seem to be incapable of understanding a U.S. President who independently represents long-term U.S. larger interests, and simultaneously leverages the U.S. market as a customer in a one-sided transaction.
The disconnect in Beijing analysis of the dynamic is really quite something.

After last weeks strategic magnanimous panda maneuver, Beijing was shocked, shocked, that President Trump continued to maintain “wrong thinking” toward the upcoming discussion with Chairman Xi.
It appears China fully expected some reciprocal trade bargaining based on their implied promise to release North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un from manipulation; but Trump didn’t flinch.  Instead, of acquiescence to magnanimous panda, President Trump sends Chairman Kim a letter filled with “excellent content“. Beijing was snubbed.
So yesterday as a follow-up Beijing indicates a willingness to revisit the prior agreement by putting the face of Vice-Premier Liu He back into their negotiation position:
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Oh dear, China is unhappy.  According to the Global Times President Trump is not “showing enough good faith” to demonstrate he “wishes to ease the trade tensions” with magnanimous panda. Sincerity is not being observed.
The G20 is coming up next week.  Magnanimous panda has exhibited great gesture with North Korea.  Expectations of reciprocal acquiescence abound, and yet President Trump is maintaining wrong thinking toward trade conflicts with China.
Beijing is not pleased; not pleased at all:

Global Times – Ahead of President Xi Jinping’s trip to attend the G20 summit, which takes place from Thursday to Saturday, the US is not showing enough good faith to demonstrate that it wishes to ease the trade tensions, Chinese observers said.
G20 members should unite to oppose protectionism and unilateralism at the summit, and be realistic about the prospects that the two largest global economies will reach a deal in the near future, they said.

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The money quote from Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping in the role of magnanimous panda as he departs Chairman Kim:

“This visit has achieved complete success in reinforcing the traditional friendship between China and North Korea”..

Kim remains hostage, and Xi highlights his captive capabilities in advance of the G20 ‘expanded’ meeting with President Trump in Osaka, Japan.  Magnanimous panda thinks he’s created leverage for hostage release negotiations with Trump in exchange for economic and trade concessions… except he hasn’t.
Beijing has fallen into a trap created by a combination of their cultural approach toward geopolitical confrontation and an echo-chamber that does not allow -or consider- warnings from dissenting voices.  In essence, it might sound goofy considering the magnitude of the issues at hand, but Beijing doesn’t know President Trump.
One of the reasons for the miscalculation is likely due to Beijing weighing their analysis and strategy based on typical Western reporting similar to THIS ARTICLE in the New York Times.
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Chairman Xi Jinping arrives in North Korea to support the “correct thinking” within his proxy province and hostage Kim Jong-Un.   Magnanimous Panda, and defender of all enlightened Asian progress, exhibited great smiles as nervous Kim worries over the dust on the military shoestrings.  WATCH:

(Reuters) BEIJING (Reuters) – The world hopes North Korea and the United States can talk to each other and for those talks to be successful, Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday, praising Pyongyang’s efforts toward denuclearization.

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This is interesting… but not simply because of the surface visibility.  Yesterday there was an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, that brought together Apple CEO Tim Cook, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Workforce policy advocate Ivanka Trump and U.S. CoC President Tom Donohue (on the margin).

Today, Apple Inc announces a restructuring of their supply chain away from China. In the media report notice the nations that likely stand to gain, and reference Trump’s 2017 golden ticket tour of Asia.

(Reuters) – Apple Inc has asked its major suppliers to assess the cost implications of moving 15%-30% of their production capacity from China to Southeast Asia as it prepares for a restructuring of its supply chain, according to a Nikkei Asian Review report on Wednesday.
Apple’s request was a result of the extended Sino-U.S. trade dispute, but a trade resolution will not lead to a change in the company’s decision, Nikkei said s.nikkei.com/31zCGhw, citing multiple sources.

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As we noted on Day #1, if we watch how Beijing scripts the messaging we should be able to identify if Chairman Xi Jinping is taking the dragon approach toward his captive Kim Jong Un, or if Xi would instead reshape the geopolitics by announcing his release of Kim as a hostage: The magnanimous panda approach.  [Critical Background HERE and HERE]
It looks like we have an answer today as Chairman Xi writes a personal op-ed, published on the front page of North Korea’s state newspaper, where Xi is releasing Kim from proxy province captivity:

…”China supports North Korea’s “correct direction” in politically resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula.”…

Yes, though important details are yet to follow, it appears Beijing is acquiescing to the unrelenting pressure from hostage rescuer President Donald Trump and allowing the DPRK to exit the controlled captivity of China. Likely denuclearization will commence.

SEOUL (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said in an op-ed in North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday that China supports North Korea’s “correct direction” in politically resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula.
The front-page op-ed is an honor rarely granted to foreign leaders and comes a day before Xi is set to visit Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, making him the first Chinese leader to visit in 14 years.

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President Trump tweeted about a phone call this morning with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping. There will be a G20 meeting between Trump and Xi. So, extending our conversation from yesterday…. the “magnanimous panda” approach appears confirmed.

[White House] President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Xi Jinping of China this morning. The two leaders discussed the importance of leveling the playing field for U.S. farmers, workers, and businesses through a fair and reciprocal economic relationship. This includes addressing structural barriers to trade with China and achieving meaningful reforms that are enforceable and verifiable. The leaders also discussed regional security issues. The two Presidents look forward to meeting again in Osaka, Japan at the G20 Summit. (read more)

With Chairman Xi Jinping traveling to North Korea for talks with his captive Kim Jong Un prior to the G20; and with the meeting between Xi and Trump confirmed; it certainly looks like Beijing is deflecting the weakness of their economic/trade position by shifting the optic toward a geopolitical magnanimous panda.  The scale of the uprising in Hong Kong was also a likely influence on the margins.
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