Hudson Institute trade expert Michael Pillsbury, an outside advisor to the White House on trade, has voiced support for restricting U.S. capital flowing into Chinese securities. Sen. Marco Rubio, a China hawk, has spearheaded separate pieces of legislation that would slap stricter disclosure rules on Chinese companies listed in the U.S. and ban government retirement plans from investing in Chinese stocks.
Michael Pillsbury, a China analyst at the conservative Hudson Institute who has informally advised Trump on trade, said the president’s tweet was consistent with his broader strategy to stand up to Beijing on strategic issues while maintaining a decent personal relationship with Xi.
“This would be another step in ratcheting up the pressure,” said Michael Pillsbury, a China scholar at the Hudson Institute who said he raised the concept of investment restrictions with the White House after negotiations with China broke down in the spring.
“We’re at very low levels of pressure compared to what could be done,” Michael Pillsbury, an outside adviser to Trump on China and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told POLITICO earlier this month.
“It was very close and then something mysterious happened. China reneged,” Pillsbury said. “The mystery is the hardliners [in Beijing]. They apparently were not aware of the 150-page deal. They somehow became aware of it in April. Some new players got involved in Beijing and next thing we know their reneging took place.”
Michael Pillsbury, an adviser to US President Donald Trump, was on the guest list – but a source says the charity was divided over whether he should attend