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How Trump’s trade deals take aim at China
To appease the world’s biggest market, countries must anger the world’s biggest trader.
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During Mr Donald Trump’s first trade war, China exported fewer products to America and more to countries like Mexico and Vietnam.
PHOTO: AFP
The Economist
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In the first cold war between America and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers fought each other by proxy. Something similar is happening in America’s trade war with China. After conciliatory talks in Geneva and London, the two sides are no longer bashing each other with new tariffs. Instead, America is waging its war indirectly, through unfortunate third countries.
Its new deal with Vietnam and its fresh tariff threats issued to many other countries seem designed to reduce China’s role in their supply chain. Countries that had hoped to stay out of the new cold war now fear they are being forced to pick a side. To appease the world’s biggest market, they must anger the world’s biggest trader.
