The Duran Podcast - China calls Lindsey Graham's bluff

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

China calls Lindsey Graham's bluff

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the United States and China and the trade talks that, I guess, are taking place. We did have a call between Trump and Xi Jinping, and both sides said it was a good call. They both like each other, both leaders. Obviously, they can talk to each other, which is a good thing. the bad thing is that it looks like China is telling the Trump administration, don't you dare move forward with more tariffs or any type of sanctions. And I believe that includes the secondary sanctions that Lindsay Graham is trying to cook up to sink the Russian economy, which is really nothing more than an embargo on China and on India.

Yeah. So more warnings, a good atmosphere between both leaders, it appears, if you go by the readout, but still a lot of tension. And once again, warnings from China to the U.S. to not escalate this. The more interesting account of this call in some ways comes from China. The Chinese foreign ministry has provided the usual. exceptionally detailed, very long readout of the call. And it is very interesting, actually, because the personal warmth and liking for Donald Trump, the person is there. And this is very unusual. I mean, you certainly never saw anything like that in, you know, Chinese readouts of the conversations between Biden and C.

I mean, Biden and C couldn't stand each other. And the Chinese didn't like Biden at all. They thought him treacherous and far from straightforward. And as we've discussed in many, many programs, Xi Jinping actually, according to one of the Chinese redoubts, basically called him out a lawyer. So there was a lot of tension and dislike there. Whereas on the contrary, between Trump and Xi Jinping,

there's clearly a degree of personal chemistry. They're completely different people. I mean, they could not be more unlike each other. But just as Trump says that he gets on with Xi Jinping, the Chinese readout made it fairly clear that Xi Jinping, at a personal level, likes Donald Trump. But Xi Jinping nonetheless remains the president of China, and he didn't give an inch.

And I think that's the important thing to say. I mean, the Chinese feel that they are in a position of strength. They were very, very infuriated by what happened in March with the tariffs and the tariffs getting completely out of control. The Americans are saying that Trump brought up the whole question of rare earths and was trying to push Xi Jinping to make concessions on rare earths. There is not a hint of any of that in the Chinese readout, which strongly suggests that the Chinese made no concessions on the question of rare earths at all. They are continuing to restrict their supply.

And the Chinese made it perfectly clear that, yes, they want the talks to continue. They agree with Trump about continuing the talks. they want to come to some kind of long-term economic understanding with the Americans, the economic divorce that we've been talking about on these programs. But if you go to the Chinese readout, again, there's a statement that under no circumstances should US-China trade and the negotiations be held hostage. to political issues that are unrelated to China, US trade. And it's quite clear what the Chinese are referring to.

They're talking about Lindsay Graham sanctions. They're basically saying, don't even think of going there. If you start imposing secondary sanctions on us, in other words, 500% tariffs on us, you will see absolutely no compromise from us. and the Geneva negotiations are dead, and there is no conceivable way that we're going to move forward with any kind of trade agreement at all. And if you start seeing shortages of iPhones and computers and other things in your shocks, well, that is your fault. It won't be ours. Now, I wonder why Lindsay Graham decided to push this 500% sanction policy through the Senate.

get the 80 signatures come up with it, knowing that this is an embargo on China and on India at a time when the Trump administration is negotiating with China, at a time when the Trump administration is negotiating with Russia. I mean, what was the real reason that the neocons decided to come up with this ridiculous identity? It was a ridiculous idea of 500% sanctions. It's beyond stupid.

Even for someone like Lindsey Graham, even for someone, for someone, like Lindsay Graham, it's beyond dumb and ridiculous. But there must be a point to it. And there must be a reason why they came up with the number 500% for shock value to make some sort of a statement. What was the reasoning for all of this? I think it was a threat to Donald Trump. I think it's as straightforward as that. I mean, 81 senators sponsoring the bill is more than enough senators to pass an impeachment if articles of impeachment ever get through the House. Now, they're not going to get through the House whilst the Republicans have a majority there.

But, you know, say there's a new, the House flips after the midterms. Then basically what they're saying to Trump is, you're on borrowed time. We have a big majority in the Senate. if you don't follow our course on Russia, on China, on all of those things, be absolutely sure that we've got more than enough votes in the Senate to impeach you. It's a bluff. There is absolutely no way that can happen. Even if Lindsay Graham has 81 co-sponsors for his bill,

Most of those senators would peel away in the event of an impeachment. There would still not be enough votes to impeach Trump in the Senate. And I'm going to say, I don't think it's 81 votes for this bill. If it becomes clear that Trump is opposed to it, which is now very finally coming round to saying that he is, though still I have to say, I think far too weak a form. But anyway, we are already getting reports that support in Congress for this proposal is eroding. But that's what it was.

It was an attempt to tell Trump, look, there's overwhelming support in the Senate for a strong line against Russia, for a strong line against China. You're going to back Ukraine to the hilt. They're going to back Taiwan to the hilt. You're going to continue the economic sabotage of China to the extent that the Biden administration was trying to do that. And if you don't, we've got the numbers in the Senate to impeach you. It was a bluff, and I hope now finally it's been called. Tough guy, Lindsay Graham. Well, it does look like it's been called because the latest reports are that Lindsay Graham has been told by the Trump administration to water down the sanction.

So I don't know. Has it been called or is this a type of compromise? Because if Trump really wanted to play hardball and not play politics and really assert himself as the president of the United States, who is not controlled by the neocons, then he would have told Lindsey Graham to stuff it. But it looks like he's worked some sort of a compromise out with Lindsey Graham where we are going to get some sort of a sanctions bill or something that's going to be voted on by the Senate and approved. but it will be much weaker and it will allow the Trump administration to not enforce whatever the Senate passes. I mean, it is a, it's a win for Trump, but it seems as if he has decided that it's better to work with the neocons than to just shut them down. Yeah, and you're absolutely right. And the implications of your question are absolutely correct. Trump should never have allowed this thing to get the kind of steved that it did. He should have made it absolutely clear. The moment Lindsay Graham came came up with this proposal that he, Trump, strongly opposed this whole idea, that it was absolutely

a disastrous idea, that it is a massive infringement and encroachment on the president's prerogatives, his ability to conduct foreign policy, that it is massively unhelpful at a time when he, the president, is negotiating not just with Russia, but with China about critical trade issues as well. I think if Trump had taken a strong line, weeks ago, this thing would never have got past first base. Trump allowed it to gather, you know, gather support, which was, I think, a terrible mistake, actually. Maybe he wants to keep Lindsay Graham himself alongside, for some mysterious reason, which I've never been able to understand. Maybe he doesn't want to make Lindsay Graham a complete enemy. Maybe he thought that this bill, the fact that this bill was there, would somehow

put pressure on the Russians that Putin would go to sleep, shaking over the fact that Lindsay Graham was threatening to bring these sanctions in and would start to make concessions and to agree to ceasefires. maybe he thought it would create pressure on China to put pressure on Moscow. But I think whatever it was, it was a terrible mistake. I don't think he should ever have let himself be maneuvered into that. And yes, he's going to get a compromise. And it's a compromise which actually, in terms of overall authority, changes absolutely nothing. I mean, if a bill this passed, which says it's up to the president to impose or enforce sanctions,

That's no different than what we have anyway. The president can impose and enforce sanctions. At his own wish, that is no more and no different from what the president can already do. But there would still be an act. The president would still have gone along with it. He has still given red meat to the neocons and to Lindsay Graham. there will still be an impression that he's nervous of them in some ways. They will still be able to say, there is this act on the statute books.

Now the president should enforce it. It's been far, far better if Donald Trump had never let this happen. But he has, we're probably going to see that compromise. I agree he should have just gone ahead and killed it off. But for reasons better than to himself than me. He prefers to play along with this thing. And he's going to get a bill passed in some form, which, as far as I'm concerned, can only cause trouble for him in the future. Yeah, the interesting part about all of this is that it wasn't Trump that called Lindsay's Bluff.

It was China. No. That called Lindsay Graham's bluff. Trump needed China to call Lindsay Graves' bluff. That's how it all happened. That's how it went down. That's essentially how it's all gone down. I have to say, I think that recent events in Ukraine, the attack on the air bases, which does

appear to upset a lot of important people, played its part. But ultimately, you're completely correct. It was China that did. I mean, what have I always said? The first rule of diplomacy is don't bluff Beijing, because your bluff is always going to be called. And that's exactly what's happened again with this book. All right. We will end the video there. Durand.com. We are on Rumbleoddice. picture, telegram, Rock Finn, and X. Go to the Duran Shop, pick up some merch. Like what we are wearing in this video, update.

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