Donald Trump may be on the way out, but he could break more China before he leaves
- Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next US president on January 20, but until then, Trump has executive tools he can wield quickly and relatively unencumbered
- China could be a particular target given Trump’s efforts to blame Beijing for the pandemic and sagging economy that sank his re-election prospects
With few signs that US President Donald Trump will leave office gracefully after his defeat, experts and former officials see a growing risk that he could make disruptive moves to double down on priorities and tie his successor’s hands in his final months in the White House.
The victory of former vice-president Joe Biden on Saturday came as Trump has refused to accept the vote counts that had been coming in since Tuesday night. Without evidence, Trump has accused Democrats of widespread electoral fraud, filed a slew of poll-related lawsuits and cast doubt on his commitment to a peaceful transfer of power.
“I think there is a good chance for mischief across a range of US polices leading up to the inauguration” on January 20, said James Green, a Georgetown University senior fellow and former trade negotiator based in the US embassy in Beijing. “In terms of cooperative handover procedures, I worry about that. It seems to me one of those norms that the Trump administration has no interest in upholding.”
If Trump decides to go out with a bang, a likely focus would be foreign policy, using tools he can wield quickly and relatively unencumbered. These include executive orders, agency rule making, appointments that don’t require Senate confirmation and moving political appointees to civil servant jobs that are difficult to upend, a practice known as “burrowing in”.
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People celebrate as Joe Biden win US presidential election, according to the Associated Press
And China could be a particular target, experts add, given Trump’s repeated efforts to deflect responsibility and blame Beijing for the pandemic and sagging economy that undercut his re-election prospects.
“Trump has promised to punish China for Covid-19, so the question is, what does that mean,” said Jeff Moon, principal at China Moon Strategies and former National Security Council official, who sees a high probability of last-minute punitive moves against Beijing.