Is Trump going to stop treating China with kid gloves now?

Published July 17, 2026 1:52pm ET | Updated July 17, 2026 1:52pm ET



President Donald Trump leveled a series of accusations on Thursday that China interfered in the 2020 election to prevent him from winning. Is that going to be enough for him to stop treating China with kid gloves and start treating it like the American enemy it is?

Trump claimed that “in mid-2018, China was working to influence the results of the U.S. midterm elections, and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself,” and that, “separately, in mid-2019, the Chinese government’s strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the U.S. president.” Trump also claimed that, according to U.S. intelligence, China tried to turn American businesses against him, paid American journalists to write negative stories about him, and attempted to “manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden.”

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