Trump’s Trade War Is Better Than Bravo TV

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It’s not diplomacy — it’s drama. In this episode:

• Why the 2025 U.S.–China trade war feels like a Bravo reality show with tariffs instead of tantrums
• How Beijing is betting Trump’s stock market obsession will force him to fold
• Treasury Secretary Besant’s pushback: “We don’t negotiate because the market dips.”
• Why both economies are in trouble — China’s deflation spiral vs. America’s cost crisis
• And how market algorithms are fueling chaos and cashing in on volatility

Nobody wins in a trade war — not even the producers.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
You know, the more I think about it, this whole
trade war thing is eerily reminiscent of a reality show.
It's almost as if Bravo is sponsoring a trade war,
the Real Housewives of Trade. I don't know, come up
with something. It all seems manufactured. And you know, the
interesting thing is that Donald Trump hosted a pretty darn

(00:39):
popular reality show for a long period of time. Anyway, Anyway,
latest tier China, betting it can win a trade war,
is playing hardball with Trump. Okay, so we got this
trade standoff. Beijing thinks it's found America Achilles heel President

(01:02):
Trump's fixation on the stock market. Chinese leader Xi Jinping
is betting that the US economy can't absorb a prolonged
trade conflict with the world's second largest economy. China is
holding a firm line because of this conviction, and an
escalating trade war will tank markets, as it did in

(01:23):
April and again This is what Beijing is thinking. They
think that the prospect of another market meltdown ultimately willforeced
Trump to negotiate at an expected stomach with z Late
this month, again we got China sanctioning US units of
South Korean shipping companies Hanwa Ocean. Markets bounced around yesterday afternoon.

(01:50):
Markets were way up for a couple of days ago. Sorry,
markets were way up, and towards the end of the day,
we started talking about cooking oil. They're great cooking oil
wars of twenty twenty five. Then you get Secretary of
Treasury Scott Bessett came out on Wednesday saying the United

(02:13):
States won't change its trade negotiating stance on China due
to stock market volatility, and I quote, we won't negotiate
because the stock market is going down or shy away
from taking strong measures against Beijing. Huh. We will negotiate
because we are doing what is best economically for the
United States. Danny pushing back against the Wall Street Journal

(02:37):
report that I talked about that the China's betting that
the United States economy can't absorb a prolonged trade conflict. Again,
we've watched the markets whipsaw back and forth since Liberation Day,
and I think think they're getting used to it. Okay,

(03:02):
I think the reality show is kind of getting old.
Nobody wins in a trade war. Nobody is going to win.
Both sides will be hurt, no doubt about that. And

(03:26):
let's be upfront and honest. The Chinese economy right now
is a mess. It's a mess. You know, we're talking
recession closer depression. You take a look at the deflation
spiral that they're seeing there, and that not good deflation.
It's bad deflation. People just don't have the money. They're

(03:48):
not spending. They know this, we know this, but they
also know again, we've got our issues as well. As
far as the jobs market is concerned. Here in the
United States, we've got the opposite problem because our costs
are pretty damn high here in the United States. So

(04:11):
which seemed to me pretty good opportunity for some sort
of meeting in the minds, and quite frankly, that's what
I'm thinking, more than likely is going to happen. As
far as the markets are concerned. I think this whip
saw action that we've seen again, it's picked up to
some degree over the past week or so based upon

(04:35):
various different tweets or statements. The algorithms that drive a
lot of stuff are going to figure this out eventually
that trades getting tired. It's getting tired, and they're going
to recognize that the rest of the public is going
to understand that the trade is getting tired, and they're

(04:55):
going to have a more difficult time profiting from the
entire movements and swings. Again, you can go to you know,
it's like a little boy who Cried Wolf type of
the situation. Okay, you know if you can't get you
can't get the called weak holders of certain securities to
sell when you are artificially creating all sorts of weakness

(05:19):
in certain areas where you're trying to scoop up stock
on the cheap to cover your short uh. Again, they
will eventually change the trade. So what the algorithms will do?
And I think a lot of the back and forth
since April, I think that the trade algorithms are starting
to recognize this to some degree. And again we've seen

(05:40):
the shifts fairly quickly in the sense that you know what,
they don't want to they don't want to be short
for too long let's just leave it at that. We
shall see as the drama continues, but again nobody wins
in a trade war. Watchdog on Wall Street dot Com
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