Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping reached an agreement over the weekend at the Group of 20 meeting in Argentina on a framework for trade dialogue that will delay the imposition of new US tariffs on Chinese goods. While surely better than the alternative, this step does not address any of the fundamental tensions in the economic relationship between the United States and China.

Few observers doubt that China needs to make significant changes in areas such as intellectual property, the rights of foreign investors and subsidies to state-owned companies if it is to meet international norms.