Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews believes that China is mocking President Donald Trump by trolling him.
Speaking to MSNBC on Wednesday, Matthews explained that in Trump's recent interview with TIME magazine, he claimed to have already secured 200 tariff deals with 200 countries. There aren't 200 countries in the world.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick let it slip on Tuesday that there has only been one deal so far, Matthews said.
"Obviously, as you noted, Trump keeps claiming that they're talking with China. China says that he's lying. And I think China is trolling us, rightly so, because, look, they're calling him on his bluff," continued Matthews. "I don't think they see any reason to negotiate with him. They know that this 145% tariff is not sustainable. It's going to continue to hurt American consumers and small businesses here. And so they think that they can buy their time, and eventually, I think that they think that Trump will cave."
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She said that Trump has already shown his hand when he blinked on some tariffs.
"He likes to talk a big talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, we've already seen him do a pause on some of these other tariffs that he put in place on other countries," Matthews explained.
"So, I think that they are assuming that he'll probably cave on this one as well," Matthews said of China. "And I think they're right to troll him, because it only makes sense that the economy is clearly in a spiral. Americans are unhappy with Trump's handling of the economy, as every recent poll has shown. And so they think that it's only a matter of time before he caves."
See her comments in the video below or at the link here.