Posted on 08/18/2018 6:37:17 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Back in June Paul and I both noted the view of economist Irwin Stelzer, who is no fan of Trump, that Trump might in fact win a trade war with China, because Trump has the better poker hand. And I concluded, “File this one away for further reference.”
Well lookie here, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today:
U.S., China Plot Road Map to Resolve Trade Dispute by November
Chinese and U.S. negotiators are mapping out talks to try to end their trade standoff ahead of planned meetings between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at multilateral summits in November, said officials in both nations.
The planning represents an effort on both sides to keep a deepening trade dispute—which already has involved tariffs on billions of dollars of goods and could target hundreds of billions of dollars more—from torpedoing the U.S.-China relationship and shaking global markets.
Scheduled midlevel talks in Washington next week, which both sides announced on Thursday, will pave the way for November.
Of course, talks alone don’t assure a deal can be reached. But it does seem to me that China has blinked first.
Moreover, turns out some folks on the left think so, too. Robert Kuttner, editor of the lefty journal The American Prospect, wrote yesterday to his email list:
Trump as China Diplomat: Suppose His Shock Diplomacy Works? Trump started a tariff war with Beijing. China vowed to retaliate in kind. But Beijing was more vulnerable because China has more to lose—it exports far more than it imports and China indeed violates trade norms of fair pricing and fair access.
A number of commentators, me included, faulted Trump for the incoherence of his moves. But Trump’s blunderbuss approach seems to be harming the Chinese economy and catching the leadership off guard.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
Yep - winning w/o being apologetic about it offends their sensibilities - their attitude is a large part of the reason we haven’t actually won a war/big conflict since WWII....and why there are still those in the world who would test us.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Winner. We have a Chicken Dinner!
That was a very clever observation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.