FLEAS IN YOUR FUR COAT

Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping Team Up to Bash Trump on Trade

Xi likened the U.S.-China trade deal to “fleas in a fur coat.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping teamed up at a global investment conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, to gang up on U.S. President Donald Trump. The two leaders have been strengthening their countries’ trade ties in the wake of the Trump administration’s trade war with China. Putin, in a speech on Friday, hinted that trade wars could escalate to “real wars,” according to the New York Times. He also accused the United States of “pretending” to support free markets only to now oppose them because of China’s threats to American dominance. In his speech on Friday, Xi suggested that the U.S. not throw out trade rules they were unhappy with but work to improve them. “If you are unhappy with fleas in your fur coat, you should not throw the fur coat in the oven,” he said, according to the official translation handout. “The current multilateral trade system has to be protected.”