It’s probably not smart to go “mano a mano” with Trump over trade.  As is typically the case, he’s looking further down the road than his critics.

Trump knows that economic power sustains hegemony and he doesn’t want his kids and grandkids living in a Chinese world.  For a quick refresher in what that would entail, stop by ChinaAid.org. to read stories such as the one about China’s persecution of Christians who simply attempt to visit their loved ones imprisoned in “re-education” camps.

The Chinese government has forbidden relatives of imprisoned Kazakh citizens who traveled to Kazakhstan to visit them in “re-education camps.” A woman named Ainor has stated that her son was illegally imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Commenting on the state of her son, Arxin, Ainor stated: “My son, who was plump before being arrested, pined away in the prison.”

There are several stages that measure prisoner progress in the re-education camps. Stage one is the “class under strict management.” Those who pass the first stage   to the second stage, which is the “class under loose management.” Prisoners are required to recite the Chinese government’s 26 characteristics of illegal religious activities and write tests in Chinese and not in their native tongue. A released prisoner revealed that those who speak their own language will be beaten and locked in a chamber. The prisoners have to write letters guaranteeing their silence upon release, promising never to leak any information about the camp. If they do, their family members will be arrested.

These are acts by the Chinese government that completely foreign to most Americans and most of the media.  But not to Trump and his team.  More than trade and economics, Trump sees this as a war of political ideologies.  As such, his administration has issued a Churchillian warning in its white paper, “How China’s Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World.”  Paragraph one sets the tone:

The Chinese government is implementing a comprehensive, long-term industrial strategy to ensure its global dominance…. Beijing’s ultimate goal is for domestic companies to replace foreign companies as designers and manufacturers of key technology and products first at home, then abroad.

The good news: every day that China refuses to reform its trade practices is another day that an American manufacturer has to work towards bringing manufacturing stateside -- because Trump has the courage to use tariffs to level the playing field and stand up for the Christian principles the undergird Western civilization.