larry johnson isn't anymore optimistic than i on the trump activities;

The Trump team are thumping their chest after sealing two “tariff” deals this week — one with the European Union (EU) and one with South Korea. Yeah, boy!!! Happy Days are here again. If you sweep aside the hype, these deals are ephemeral at best. Turns out that Ursula von der Leyen had no authority to make the deal trumpeted by Trump, and it is far from certain that the European states will be able to allocate the $600 billion promised by von der Leyen. And South Korea? I was told today by a source with access, that the South Koreans are pissed at Trump’s bullying and are contemplating moving closer to China on the economic front. To top it off, Trump spent part of the day threatening India and China with punitive tariffs because of their trade relations with Russia. I think much of the world is growing weary of Trump’s childish tariff tirades.

What about China? I want to give credit to Kevin Wamsley, who hosts the Inside China Business channel on YouTube. I have lifted the following transcript from his most recent broadcast (the full video is posted below). According to Kevin:

The issue on the China side though is that the Chinese economy has diversified away from the United States. Forbes pointed out that China is now just the third largest trade partner for the US, a distant third behind Mexico and Canada. In the month of May, China was less than 6% of US trade, which was the lowest level in over 20 years.............more........