Trump Says China Convinced the World ‘Let’s All Do Magnets’

Donald Trump was all over the place during two press conferences at the White House on Monday, where he rambled about his fascist vision for the country. But there were some points of levity, including when the president tried to explain how China became a leader in rare earth minerals. Or at least that’s what we think he was talking about.

“China intelligently went in and they sort of took a monopoly of the world’s magnets,” Trump said. “Nobody needed magnets until they convinced everybody 20 years ago, ‘let’s all do magnets.’”

Trump went on to say that there “were many other ways that the world could have gone” and insisted “we’re heavily into the world of magnets now.” Trump went on to say that he sent Boeing “all the parts so that their planes could fly,” referring to parts that were held up during the trade war.

Trump went on to say that tariffs are “much more powerful” than magnets and that China would be charged a “200% tariff or something” if leaders in the country “don’t give us magnets.” Trump insisted that eventually the U.S. would have “so many [magnets] we won’t know what to do with them.”

Trump made the remarks during his meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, but what is he talking about? It seems the president is trying to refer to the tit-for-tat that’s been happening ever since his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs were announced on April 2. China retaliated on April 4 by announcing new export controls on seven rare earth elements and magnets that are vital for things like electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, and electronics.

U.S. automaker Ford has faced production delays over its inability to source rare earth magnets, according to the Wall Street Journal, even temporarily shutting down a facility in Chicago over the shortage back in May. China controls roughly 90% of the world’s rare earth metals, making Trump’s unnecessary trade war a truly idiotic fight to pick if you’re trying to boost manufacturing in the U.S.

What does Trump mean by saying that China convinced the world “let’s all do magnets”? That’s unclear, but it might be a reference to the fact that China has been a leader in developing sustainable energy production. Trump and the Republican Party more broadly have been committed to fossil fuel energy for purely ideological reasons, and it probably makes sense to the president’s base for him to insist China somehow hoodwinked the world into accepting the energy transition to sell magnets. Or something. As with all things Trump, it’s often hard to read his mind.

At one point during the press conference that preceded his meeting with the South Korean leader, Trump referred to a governor named “Kristi Whitman,” someone who doesn’t exist. Trump later corrected himself to say “Whitmer,” apparently referring to the governor of Michigan, but her name is Gretchen, not Kristi. The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, was nearby, which may explain why the name Kristi was rattling around in that hollow noggin of his.

Trump also signed an executive order on Monday that would jail anyone who burned an American flag for one year. That issue was most famously litigated in the 1980s, resulting in the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson, which holds that burning a flag is protected speech.

But Trump obviously doesn’t care. He’s going to keep testing the boundaries of what’s accepted by the American public, recently escalating his military occupation of Washington, D.C., by having members of the National Guard carrying weapons. Federal agents are terrorizing the city, and people are getting arrested for little more than just filming police, according to videos that are being posted to social media.

Trump has threatened to send the National Guard to Chicago next, something the governor of Illinois has explicitly said he doesn’t want. But it’s a brand new world. And things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.