In a spectacular ceremony at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, President Trump received an extravagant welcome to China last week. China is 6,500 miles from the USA and is protected by its military. China represents our largest adversarial army, navy and intel operatives. It is also the safest place President Trump has been in two years. Chinese state media handled the visit carefully. Their coverage portrayed Trump with the cautious respect normally reserved for a live tiger wandering through a fraternity party. Trump had just come from a hunting trip in the U.S. where he killed more RHINOs than any president since Teddy Roosevelt.

Chinese citizens watching the visit seemed fascinated. In China, political leaders traditionally project restraint and discipline. Suddenly here comes Trump, red tie flapping in the wind, speaking entirely in capital letters, and free-associating through international diplomacy like a rapper.

In China, pandas became a national symbol by mastering two skills American college kids have: eating a lot and avoiding responsibility.

Face it, we need China. They need us. Beyond that, trade and a good relationship stop wars. Trump is smart to maintain a good relationship with China. My second favorite economist, 19th-century economist Frédéric Bastiat, said, “If goods do not cross borders, soldiers will.”

China now has 15,000 McDonald’s restaurants. Our old adversary Vietnam has 6,000. General Westmoreland and President Lyndon Johnson would be happy to know that the U.S. Inflicted Body Count continues to grow in Vietnam.

I prefer free trade, but Trump maintains that it is not free trade when other countries charge a tariff on our goods and we do not reciprocate. With tariffs kicking in, the Commerce Department reported the U.S. trade deficit with China has shrunk dramatically since 2025. It’s a start.

Our shelves are still filled with cheap Chinese goods. Last month a Utah woman gave birth to a baby in the checkout line at Walmart, and it was the only thing in the entire store that was made in America.

China’s new statues around the country serve to remind the people of the purpose of their hard work: they are a Walmart shopper in pajama pants.

Trump has the ability to schmooze the powerful when it is our nation’s best interest. His getting along with competitors is better than what the Dems do, which is to demonize and isolate them. Biden never visited China as president. He never stumbled down the stairs of Air Force One to cut a deal with them. Yet he did let their spy influence fund his project at UPenn and the like. He liked their money.

On Trump’s agenda for this visit was what is before the Supreme Court: birthright citizenship. Chinese are the biggest players in this game of flying to the USA to deliver their babies here, getting citizenship, and raising the kids in China just to come back to the USA later for college and our government handouts. It is like claiming I am Chinese because my mother went into labor with me in a Panda Express.

We also talked to them about their spying. Chinese spies are everywhere. LA suburb Arcadia’s Mayor Eileen Wang pleaded guilty to spying for China and had to resign. Californians’ reaction was predictable.

On China’s agenda with us is always Taiwan. The age-old operative question is: Would the United States fight if China invaded Taiwan, an island it has long claimed as its own? When future Democrat presidential candidates crashed the Munich Security Conference trying to flex their international muscles, they were embarrassed when asked this basic question. AOC went full Kamala in a word salad that fumbled the Taiwan question badly. AOC froze up so long on that question that Mitch McConnell stepped in to ask if she was OK.

On the bright side, AOC’s candidacy for president took the gold medal in the Women’s Downhill.

China’s military has not fought in forty years. We entangle ourselves in bad wars about every decade. We are tied up in Iran now, so we really could not even consider penciling in a war in with China until the first quarter of 2027. We are all booked up war wise, and Raytheon Lockheed and Martin Marrietta already have their earnings in the bag for 2026.

A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron does commentary on radio and TV. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.