China, in his words · Before politics · № 18
Told CPAC 'we're rebuilding China' and 'we have the cards'
“Our roads are crumbling, everything's crumbling. And we're rebuilding China. It's got to stop and we have the cards, remember that. We have the cards.”
- Said
- , Speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), National Harbor, Maryland
- Subject
- leverage over China
- Threat
- Economic threat
- Topic
- Trade & tariffs
- Era
- Before politics
What the record showed
He had said the same on CNN on April 17, 2011: 'We have all the cards. China doesn't have the cards.' In 2025 China placed seven rare-earth elements under export controls, and Ford halted Explorer production in Chicago for a week amid magnet shortages, CNBC reported. Under the deal announced by the White House on Nov. 1, 2025, China agreed to suspend the rare-earth export controls it announced on Oct. 9, 2025; the resulting truce also lowered U.S. tariffs. In September 2026 the truce was extended by two months, to Jan. 10.
Sources
- Speech: Donald Trump Addresses the CPAC Convention in National Harbor, MD - February 27, 2015
- State of the Union: Interview With Donald Trump (transcript, aired April 17, 2011)
- Trump faces Xi as strains with allies complicate U.S. pressure on China
- Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Strikes Deal on Economic and Trade Relations with China
- Trump, Xi wrap state visit centered on spectacle over substance. Here are the top takeaways