Trump’s Tweets Turn to China From Russia as Trade War Escalates
Trump has tweeted 47 times on China, trade and tariffs this month, compared to 30 tweets on Russia.
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump is aiming his tweets away from his favorite target -- the Mueller probe -- and toward his latest fixation: pressuring China on trade.
As tensions with Beijing have escalated, presidential tweets about China and trade have begun to outnumber those about Russia, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and what Trump calls the “witch hunt,” according to an analysis using the Trump Twitter Archive.
Trump has tweeted 47 times on China, trade and tariffs this month, compared to 30 tweets on Russia, as talk of a trade deal heated up before negotiations between the world’s two largest economies hit an impasse.
Russia has of course been a favorite topic for Trump since the start of his presidency. He’s posted nearly 600 tweets with the words Russia, Mueller, hoax, “witch hunt” or collusion since January 19, 2017. About 392 have included the words China, trade or tariff, according to the archive.
Russia continued to outpace trade topics since the start of this year, 160 tweets to 86, as Trump’s trade negotiators sought to close a deal with Beijing. Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Mueller’s report was released in March, followed by Mueller’s redacted report on April 18. Trump tweeted about Russia 71 times between Barr’s summary and the end of April.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Wayne in Washington at awayne3@bloomberg.net;Michael Shepard in Washington at mshepard7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.