China Mocks Trump’s Tariffs With Snarky A.I.-Generated Videos Posted All Over Social Media

China’s state-run media is mocking President Trump and his new stiff tariffs against the communist nation with artificial intelligence-generated videos featuring dancing robots and distressed American consumers.In one three-minute video titled “Liberation Day” the term Mr. Trump used when he announced global tariffs last week — an AI female sings ‘You promised us the stars, but tariffs killed our cheap Chinese cars.” As the camera shows a dejected American woman sitting at a kitchen table, the voice sings, “Groceries cost a kidney, gas a lung. Your deals? Just hot air from your tongue.”The video on the website of China’s CGTN, a state-run English-language broadcaster, shows images of automobile production plants and, weirdly, humanoid robots dancing on fire-ravaged streets. “You taxed each truck, you taxed each tire. Midwest burnin’ in your dumpster fire,” the automated voice sings.Under the video posted on the station’s website, it says: “For many Americans, ‘Liberation Day’ hailed by Trump administration will mean shrinking paychecks and rising costs. Tariffs hit, wallets quit: low-income families take the hardest blow. As the market holds its breath, the toll is already undeniable. Numbers don’t lie. Neither does the cost of this so-called ‘fairness.’ Warning: Track is AI-generated. The debt crisis? 100 percent human-made.”In another AI video posted on Xinhua News, a state-run media site, shows a robot named TARIFF and tells the story of the “psychological journey of a humanoid towards its eventual self-destruction.”As the robot is brought to life, its creator asks if it knows what is. “I understand the parameters of my existence. I am T.A.R.I.F.F., Technical Artificial Robot for International Fiscal Functions,” the robot says.“What is the ultimate purpose of your program?” the creator asks. “To protect the interests of the American people.” The robot then runs some tests; when forecasting what moderate tariffs would do, it says the results are “positive.” But the creator says, “Not good enough. Let’s rev it up.”When the robot forecasts the results of “aggressive” tariffs, it says “unemployment rates rising, cost of living increasing, disruption of trade.” “Excellent,” the creator says. By the end of the video, the robot doubts its effectiveness, saying, “I have become the beginning of a chain reaction that will harm the very people I was meant to safeguard.”“If I cease to exist, there will be one less cause for suffering. My death will end the cycle,” the robot says as it self-destructs in a huge fireball.In another viral AI video, this one created by a Chinese TikToker, Americans are portrayed as grossly overweight while toiling in grim, sweatshop-style factories, all set to a backdrop of traditional Chinese music. The figures appear exhausted and downtrodden — and very fat. At the end, Mr. Trump’s campaign slogan appears on the screen — “Make America Great Again.”Yet another AI video shows Mr. Trump, Vice President Vance and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, all wearing blue work overalls, working on a factory production line manufacturing Nike tennis shoes.In one more viral video, obese Americans are seen performing low-skill labor in factories, making computer chips for Tesla vehicles, constructing Apple iPhones and sewing more Nike shoes as the song “Rolling on the River” plays in the background. At the end, the words “Make America Rich Again” appear on the screen.Two days after Mr. Trump set stiff tariffs against China that amount to 145 percent levies on imports, the communist country struck back with its own measures, announcing it was raising retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods to 84 percent.Mr. Vance inflamed the situation further when he said China’s economy was fueled by “peasants.” That prompted a heated response from Lin Jian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, who said: “It’s both astonishing and lamentable to hear this vice president make such ignorant and disrespectful remarks.”A week after imposing stiff global tariffs, Mr. Trump hit pause, announcing on Wednesday that he would pause all levies, except those on China. “These countries are calling me up, kissing my ass,” he said Tuesday night at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in Washington. “They are dying to make a deal… ‘Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything.’”

China Mocks Trump’s Tariffs With Snarky A.I.-Generated Videos Posted All Over Social Media

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