Chinese President Xi Jinping is navigating a political tightrope, where picking up the phone to call President Trump and discuss his country's ongoing trade war with the U.S. could draw fire from fellow Communist Party leaders, China expert Gordon Chang told FOX Business on Thursday. "Picking up the phone and calling President Trump would be the economically rational thing to do… but Xi Jinping has configured the Chinese political system so that only the most hostile answers are considered to be acceptable, which means he's boxed himself in," Chang said on "Mornings with Maria." "He can't do that, because if he does, his Communist Party fellow leaders, they're going to criticize him, so right now, China's in a position where it can't do what it absolutely needs to do." SCOTT BESSENT BLASTS CHINA'S RETALIATORY TARIFF PLAY AS LOSING MOVE The "Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America" author sided with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who blasted China's Wednesday trade war escalation as a "loser" move. "They are the surplus country," Bessent said Wednesday. "Their exports to the U.S. are five times our exports to China. They can raise their tariffs, but so what?" On that note, Chang said China "doesn't have any cards in this" game, adding that, while the Chinese are "holding a pair of twos," Trump has a "royal straight flush." CONSERVATIVE LEGAL GROUP SUES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER CHINESE IMPORT TARIFFS: ‘CONGRESS NEVER AUTHORIZED’

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