President Donald Trump stunned observers this week when he did a complete reversal on his position of whether China is manipulating its currency to harm American manufacturing businesses.
"They're not currency manipulators," Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, despite the fact that just 10 days before, Trump had described China as the "world champions" of currency manipulation.
Te-Ping Chen, a Beijing-based reporter for the Wall Street Journal, notes that Chinese media are gleefully mocking Trump for doing such an abrupt 180 on an issue that was one of the staples of his 2016 presidential campaign -- in fact, Trump had originally vowed to officially label China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency.
"Eating his words!" reads one headline, as translated by Chen.
"Trump slaps self in face, again," reads another.
Earlier this week, the Chinese press ridiculed Trump for being a "weakened politician who needed to flex his muscles" after he ordered a missile strike in Syria while dining with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort.