Hopes are high that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting at the upcoming G20 Summit in Japan can lay the groundwork for a US-China trade deal and end the tit-for-tat tariffs.
However, the trade dispute is not amenable to a quick or easy solution because the underlying issues are structural and systemic in nature. Even if a headline-grabbing agreement is reached, it is likely to be largely cosmetic and is unlikely to defuse ongoing tensions.Two factors underlie the tough stance the Trump administration has taken towards China, both of them structural. One is the rebalancing of economic and geopolitical power associated with the rise of China.
However, the trade dispute is not amenable to a quick or easy solution because the underlying issues are structural and systemic in nature. Even if a headline-grabbing agreement is reached, it is likely to be largely cosmetic and is unlikely to defuse ongoing tensions.Two factors underlie the tough stance the Trump administration has taken towards China, both of them structural. One is the rebalancing of economic and geopolitical power associated with the rise of China.
