China is winning the trade war with America for now

Thursday, November 15, 2018

“But this economic logic is unlikely to sway Mr Trump right now, least of all when the White House is preparing for a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. So it is worth asking why the bilateral statistics are moving the wrong way. Part of the explanation is — ironically — the US’s current economic strength: fast growth usually sucks in more imports. (Or, as some of Mr Trump’s own advisers used to half-jokingly tell him, with limited success, the easiest way to solve a trade deficit is to create a recession.)”