The Wall Street Journal just dropped a brutal truth bomb on Donald Trump — saying China is beating him at his own game. In a no-holds-barred editorial, the Journal’s board said what many have been thinking: Trump’s trade war with China isn’t working.
“The good news is that at least Mr. Trump is finally listening to reality,” the Journal wrote Wednesday. “There couldn’t have been a clearer market test in the last three weeks about the economic damage these columns warned about. The MAGA media echo chamber that praised Mr. Trump’s tariffs as strategic genius looks foolish.”
That’s a direct hit. But the Journal didn’t stop there.
It added that a hard truth is now clear: “China called Mr. Trump’s bluff and seems to have won this round.”
The editorial compared this moment to Trump’s first term, when China used measured retaliation and still came to the negotiating table. This time, they seem to be doing the same — but from a stronger position.
The Journal questioned whether Trump is actually learning anything: “The question going forward is whether Mr. Trump is internalizing these economic and political lessons or merely pausing to fight his trade war another day. We doubt even Mr. Trump knows the answer, since so much of his decision-making is ad hoc.”
This isn’t the first time they’ve gone after him. Over the past few weeks, the Journal has repeatedly torched Trump’s economic policies, saying they’ve rattled markets and hurt the U.S. economy — especially in his first 100 days.
Trump’s response? He’s waved it off, claiming the Journal has been “dead wrong” and accusing owner Rupert Murdoch of trying to “tear him down.”
But the timing of this latest editorial is no accident. It came right after Trump floated the idea that a new deal with China might ease the 145 percent tariffs. China quickly shot that down, calling his claims “groundless.”
