Donald Trump Jr. Says US Military Should Focus on China, Avoid War

President Donald Trump’s oldest son argued the US should be prepared to deal with any military challenge from China, yet remain open to talks with its rival.

Donald Trump Jr. made the remarks in a commentary posted Tuesday on Human Events, a conservative political news website. The piece made the case for Elbridge Colby to be nominated to a Pentagon post. Colby, a hard-liner on China, is the president’s pick for undersecretary of defense for policy.

Trump Jr. said Colby believed “we must focus our military” on China, “but at the same time, he supports my father in his openness to negotiation with Xi Jinping and avoiding poking the dragon in the eye unnecessarily.” Trump’s son added that “when you consider that the American people would benefit most from a balance of power with China that avoids war, it makes perfect sense.”

The remarks shed some light on how the Trump administration plans to deal with China. Trump Jr. doesn’t have an official role in government but plays a prominent role in his father’s political circle. A trade war erupted between Washington and Beijing during Trump’s first term, and Trump hit China with tariffs already in his second, suggesting they were needed to hold China accountable for an alleged failure to curb the export of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals.