China knows it has a paper tiger across the negotiating table, and can hold out for the best deal

Donald Trump has said that tariffs on China will “come down substantially,” with an aide floating rollbacks as high as 65 percent .

But the proposed tariff cuts would only come as part of negotiations, not unilaterally.

China now knows it has a paper tiger across the negotiating table, and can hold out for the best deal.

Ruben Navarrette : It's not possible to backfill the volume of canceled orders from China and elsewhere in such a short period of time.

He says the real impact would be visible not just to trucking and shipping CEOs, but every consumer trying to buy things this summer .

The effective embargo would create other shortages in critical components, such as parts for transformers and air conditioners, he says.

There isn’t true self-sufficiency yet in U.S. solar, but we’re headed in that direction, forestalling a situation where our dependence on OPEC is traded for a Chinese cartel dominating our energy needs.

Yet all of this progress is at risk if Trump cancels the IRA subsidies for solar.