The Latest Broadside Fired By China In Its Trade War With The United States Was A List Of $16 Billion In American Imports Subjected To A 25 Percent Retaliatory Tariff. One Major Item That Was Supposed To Be On The List Was Quietly Removed: Oil. Analysts Wonder If This Conspicuous Omission Is A Sign China Is Blinking In Its Economic Staredown Against The Trump Administration.
The Wall Street Journal noted on Thursday that oil was prominently listed as a target for retaliatory tariffs in June at a time when Beijing was trying to intimidate President Trump out of taking punitive measures against Chinese imports. A 25 percent tariff on American oil was a serious threat because China is now the world’s top buyer of U.S. crude. U.S. oil imports to China are worth $8 billion all by themselves, so erasing oil from the tariff list reduced the value of sanctioned goods by roughly one-third.
That is a massive revision to China’s retaliatory action, tantamount to stubbing someone’s toe after threatening to punch him in the nose. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Disney’s new film, “Christopher Robin” will not be allowed in China after the government blocked its release there.
Although the Chinese government did not offer a reason for the ban, Beijing has been banning images of Winnie the Pooh since the character started being used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping, Fox News reported.
Beginning in 2013, social media users began comparing Xi to the bear of very little brain. An image of Xi walking next to former President Barack Obama was soon twinned with one of Pooh walking next to Tigger.
A bear, however hard he tries, Falls foul of Chinese censors' eyes https://t.co/ToOCHHZT7I pic.twitter.com/8H9ITqIc1M
— Financial Times (@FT) July 16, 2017
Individuals wanting to indirectly protest against the Chinese government kept up the comparisons, leading China to block images of Pooh on social media, the BBCreported.
China also has blocked Western efforts to mock its ban on Pooh. In June, HBO was blocked after “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver mocked Xi on the issue of being compared to Pooh.
The company Global Risk Insights, in a blog post, offered its reasons for the ban.
“The government’s reaction is disproportionate and puzzling for two reasons. Firstly, where some see harmless fun, Beijing sees a serious effort to undermine the dignity of the presidential office and Xi himself,” the company wrote.
“Authoritarian regimes are often touchy, yet the backlash is confusing since the government is effectively squashing a potential positive, and organic, public image campaign for Xi,” Global Risk Insights continued, naming the 2015 image China’s “most censored image of 2015.”
“Beijing’s attack on Winnie the Pooh may be farcical, but it is also an indication of more serious trends in China’s media,” the post added. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [contentcards url=”https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/08/10/china-blinks-trade-war-drops-oil-retaliatory-u-s-tariff-list/” target=”_blank”]