December 18, 2019

So Where’s the Text of Trump’s Great Trade Deal With China?

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Just a quick note that we’re still waiting to see the actual text of President Trump’s “phase one” trade deal with China. It’s supposedly waiting on translation and legal review, but that’s just a pretext. The real issue is almost certainly different: it doesn’t bind China to buy $50 billion worth of agricultural products, as Trump and his team have been loudly claiming for the past week.

This is typical Trump. Get headlines with a big claim and then wait a while to release the details. By then nobody cares anymore and the details get a small blurb on page A17 and become yet another entry on the many “Trump Lies” lists that we’re all keeping. But the big claim is what most people remember.

For the record, then: the China deal will turn out to have virtually no binding commitments for China to buy anything. They will continue to buy the stuff they need and Trump will pretend that it’s a huge win even though trade figures will make it plain that China is buying no more from us than they always have.

I will of course keep you updated if I turn out to be wrong. But don’t hold your breath for that.

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

You may be wondering: What does it take to publish an investigation? And what does my donation actually fund? The answers are one and the same: It takes people, resources, and time. And that’s what your donation funds directly.

Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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