Bob Davis

Sullivan on China mil purges: "Do we end up with a new military leadership that is more likely to want to chomp at the bit when it comes to Taiwan? Is that what Xi is going for? There are some who believe the answer to that question is yes. I’m still in wait-and-see mode."

Sullivan on effectiveness of chip controls "There has been a concerted effort, driven by the Chinese govt and supported by voices in the U.S. and parts of the West, which says that resistance is futile… Why do they want the restrictions taken down? Because they are effective."

Sullivan: "There is absolutely no reason to telegraph so persistently that rare earths are a fatal weakness of the United States, which I don’t believe they are. We could have managed our way through this without throwing up our hands."

Sullivan: Trump is "interested in escalation and concession and then de-escalation. When China really pushed back hard, he thought, ‘Well, I’ve got to move to the de-escalation phase as rapidly as possible."

Jake Sullivan on Keeping Ahead of China - The Wire China Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan sets out what he was trying to achieve in dealing with Beijing, where he thinks Trump 2.0 has taken a wrong turn on China.

Jake Sullivan on China and Trump. He "is very sure footed, very confident, very assertive when it comes to countries he perceives as weaker. He is very unsure footed, very tentative and very willing to make concessions to to leaders he thinks are strong." www.thewirechina.com/2026/03/01/j...

Although Trump thinks he can charm and cajole Xi Jinping and Putin, "I’m generally less confident in the ability of any American president to achieve breakthroughs through personal charm or personal diplomacy with capable and committed foes."

Feith lost his job in the Trump 2.0 NSC after
Laura Loomer attacked him. How did feel personally? "I’m not interested much in the personal feelings of it. We all go into these political jobs to serve at the pleasure of the president. These are not entitlements," Feith says

"We have seen instances where senior officials have raised with the president good, hawkish measures to pursue vis-a-vis China, and the president has seemingly batted them down," including banning U.S. land sales to China, says Feith

David Feith on Trump 1.0 vs Trump 2.0 and China - The Wire China The former official in both of the president’s terms discusses why Trump has become less hawkish on China, and his sudden departure from the administration last year.

China hawk David Feith, a Trump 1.0 alum: "Trump isn't pushing "his team to generate broad ideas to compete and change the terms of our relationship with China across the economic, trade, technology, diplomatic, military... domains the way we did," in Trump 1.0 www.thewirechina.com/2026/01/25/d...

Under Biden, when Brainard headed the NEC, she used a "70% rule" to guide recommendations on tariffs and subsidies. "When China had a global share in excess of 70%, it was like a red flashing signal because the global supply chain was excessively dependent on China."

In the Obama years, Brainard was a top Treasury official. She says she urged tariffs to preserve then nascent- US solar industry. "We should have used the import surge tool, but that position was not accepted for reasons to do with broader foreign policy considerations."

Brainard: "When you erode the independence of the Federal Reserve, inflation will likely run higher for a period of time because people start to expect higher inflation. It becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy."

Lael Brainard on Keeping the Dollar Dominant - The Wire China The economic policy maker says the Trump administration's actions could threaten the greenback's role, and discusses the big bet the U.S. made in welcoming China into the WTO.

Biden NEC chief and ex Fed vice chair Lael Brainard say tariff impact coming. Tariffs "They are just beginning to work their way through the pricing system." In Trump 1.0 "it took six to nine months for [China] tariffs to push prices up."
www.thewirechina.com/2025/10/05/l...

What Happened to "Engagement" with China? | China Books Review Since 1972, the U.S. has hoped that engaging with China would benefit both nations. That dream has burst. A new book performs an autopsy on engagement policy — but is it really dead?

I do a deep dive into the birth and death of engagement with China -- and (weirdly) the possible revival under Trump 2.0. It's the heart of my review of China scholar David Shambaugh's "Breaking the Engagement." chinabooksreview.com/2025/09/25/e...

Opinion | The New Buzzword That’s Scaring China

China is heading for deflation. Somehow it thinks a political campaign focusing on something called “involution” will help stave off disaster. My latest. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...

Two National Guardsmem with M16s at the Washington DC DuPont Circle metro entrance. A local is politely engaging with them and criticizing the deployment. Most importantly, Kristy Kreme at the entrance is safe.

The Strategic Logic of China’s Economic Data Beijing knows it has a credibility problem Ten years ago this week, Rhodium Group published a landmark study of China’s economic data, Broken Abacus, discussing the rapid evolution of China’s statisti...

China reports that its GDP is growing at about 5%. Nope, says China researcher Rhodium Group. Actual GDP growth is about half that, at 2.8%. rhg.com/research/the...

Kudlow on global reaction to Trump tariffs: lot of people in the media wrote that all these countries were going to talk to China and walk away from the U.S. That didn’t happen. They didn’t go to China. It was like the global instinct was to go to America."

Kudlow on tariffs: "Let’s face it. A tariff is a tax, okay? I know everyone’s worried about inflation. I’m not. Tariffs historically are like taxes. They are recessionary. They are deflationary."

Kudlow on Trump/China: "For better or worse, Trump believes and still believes that he can do business with Xi Jinping on a very personal level. Trump is a trade hawk, but he wants to do business."

Kudlow on Trump's original "Liberation Day" tariffs: "Cockamamie is not a bad word [for the tariffs] and it came from Navarro’s shop. I think I’ve used that word, cockamamie, myself. I was trying to figure the thing out and I couldn’t for the life of me.

Larry Kudlow on Trump, Xi, Putin and the future of global trade - The Wire China The former National Economic Council head talks about whether a deal with China is in the cards during Trump's second term, and being a free trader as the U.S. turns to protectionism.

Former Trump NEC Director Larry Kudlow: I always thought President Trump, was a little too personalized. A little too, ‘I can charm you into coming around to my point of view.’ There’s a place for that. But it’s just a place." www.thewirechina.com/2025/08/24/l...

Janet Yellen on the Challenges of Dealing With China, Trump — and Biden - The Wire China The former Treasury Secretary and Fed chair discusses why tariffs won't work, her efforts to rebuild relations with China under Biden and her issues working within the administration.

Yellen as Fed Chair on China: in 2016, investors thought there was a "Shanghai Protocol" to keep US rates low
if China didn't devalue. "No. We did meet, and we understood the pressures that they were under... That doesn’t require a secret handshake agreement."
www.thewirechina.com/2025/07/18/j...

Janet Yellen on the Challenges of Dealing With China, Trump — and Biden - The Wire China The former Treasury Secretary and Fed chair discusses why tariffs won't work, her efforts to rebuild relations with China under Biden and her issues working within the administration.

Yellen as Treasury Secretary on China: "Making changes [to boost consumption] would also ultimately make China less export-dependent... But in the visits that I had during the time that I was at Treasury, it became clear Xi doesn’t want to do that." www.thewirechina.com/2025/07/18/j...

Janet Yellen on the Challenges of Dealing With China, Trump — and Biden - The Wire China The former Treasury Secretary and Fed chair discusses why tariffs won't work, her efforts to rebuild relations with China under Biden and her issues working within the administration.

Janet Yellen on Biden WH decision-making and China. "In the economic area, he had very few meetings where the president and senior officials, including cabinet members, give their views and the president asks questions.There were virtually no meetings like that."
www.thewirechina.com/2025/07/18/j...

Janet Yellen on the Challenges of Dealing With China, Trump — and Biden - The Wire China The former Treasury Secretary and Fed chair discusses why tariffs won't work, her efforts to rebuild relations with China under Biden and her issues working within the administration.

Janet Yellen on why should doesn't talk to Scott Bessent:"He has succeeded in undoing everything that was a priority of mine at Treasury." Bessent reply: "I couldn’t even tell you what Secretary Yellen’s China policy was, aside from consuming beer and mushrooms." www.thewirechina.com/2025/07/18/j...

She Confronted a History of Enslavers in Her Family. Here’s What Happened.

New York Times profiles @brunodebbie as he examined the enslavers in her family and worked with Eleanor Mire, whose family was one of the enslaved.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/u...

I have always wondered why a certain percentage of leftists only use Apple tech yet completely ignore the multiple human rights abuses, police states, and genocidal conditions created by China. Other major tech companies diversified in recent years from China but Apple refused.

How China Captured Apple A giant firm and a superpower have become deeply entangled.

How China Captured Apple - A giant firm and a superpower have become deeply entangled. My review of a fine new book about how China and Apple truly operate.
foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/23/a...

This is a fascinating story.

We're reissuing The Ten Thousand Leaves: Poems from the Man'yōshū, the oldest collection of Japanese poems, translated by Ian Hideo Levy when he was 32 (and finalist of the National Book Award for Translation in 1982), in July.