On Fox Business, Kevin O’Leary didn’t mince words when explaining how China has made a habit of manipulating U.S. markets — and why now is the time to squeeze them into a fair deal. Appearing with Elizabeth MacDonald on “The Evening Edit,” the “Shark Tank” star laid out a sharp and urgent case for getting tough with Beijing.
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“Let’s remember how China operates,” O’Leary said. “You don’t have to go back very far to the DeepSeek story. China loves to mess with our markets. They love to drop a bomb at the right time.” O’Leary pointed to how a Chinese company recently inflated its value based on phony artificial intelligence claims, duping investors before the truth came out. “They raised almost a trillion dollars with a market cap… which turned out to be complete BS later,” he added.
O’Leary stressed that he has no quarrel with the Chinese people themselves, but said the Chinese government plays a different kind of game. “There is a negotiation going on here. It’s a dance. We’re starting the dance,” he said. “I don’t care how the sausage is made. I’m one of those guys that are saying, ‘Let’s solve everything, not just tariffs with China.’”
While much attention has been placed on trade skirmishes with Europe or India, O’Leary insisted China remains the “big kahuna” problem. “IP theft, access to their markets, delist their companies that don’t comply to the rules I have to comply to that cost me millions of dollars. They don’t have to — why do they get to do that?” he asked. “Why don’t we just get it on the table?”
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O’Leary’s prescription was clear: leverage America’s dominant economic position while we still have it. “We have to squeeze heads while we’re the largest economy on earth,” he said, noting that the U.S. accounts for 39% of global consumption and 26.1% of world GDP. “Squeeze while you can, otherwise you’ll never get this opportunity again.”
O’Leary brushed off the political noise surrounding President Trump, dismissing Trump derangement syndrome as an unnecessary distraction to reining in China. As he put it, “Half the people don’t like him. I don’t even care about that anymore. It’s not about Trump. It’s about settling a huge problem with an economy that cheats and steals IP and wants to win by not paying for it.”
When asked what leverage the U.S. actually has to bring China to heel, O’Leary pointed straight at China’s own workers. “Millions of people working in factories making stuff that [isn’t] going to a market,” he said. “The largest market on earth is the U.S.”
O’Leary also noted that Xi Jinping doesn’t face voter backlash the way American leaders do, but he still has to contend with millions of restless workers if exports dry up. “He can use his own currency to print money and pay these people for doing nothing, then he gets hyperinflation. Saw that movie in Venezuela. We have leverage,” he warned.
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O’Leary made it clear he wants American companies to have access to the Chinese market — but only on fair terms. “I just want a level playing field. I am not scared to say go to 400%, shut it down until they come to the table.”
With the U.S. and EU both pushing back against Chinese dumping practices, O’Leary said the time for action is now. “It sounds like to me that’s actually starting,” he concluded.
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