After Beijing and Washington reached a truce in their trade war in May, a video of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party co-leader Alice Weidel surfaced in Chinese social media posts falsely claiming she said China was the only country that could force the United States to "sit down and negotiate". However, Weidel never mentioned China in her August 2024 rally speech; she in fact called the German government's deportation of dozens of convicted Afghans an ineffective "gimmick".

China's former consul general to Belfast Zhang Meifang shared the 13-second clip of Weidel speaking in German on her account on X on May 21, 2025.

"Co-chairwoman of Germany's AfD Weidel said only China's strength can defeat the United States' arrogance and force it sit down and negotiate!" its caption says.

"Throughout history, the United States has only sat down for equal negotiations twice -- once during the Korean War, and again during the trade war. China was on the other side of the negotiations both times."

Simplified Chinese text overlaid on the clip largely repeats the claim.

The post appeared alongside a tide of false claims about the trade war between Washington and Beijing circulating online, which were amplified by Chinese state media outlets (archived link).

The two sides announced a truce on May 12 that halted tit-for-tat tariffs announced since President Donald Trump's return to the White House, with a further "framework" agreement reached on June 10 (archived link). China...

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