If you are not paying attention to the dramatic developments between China and the United States, you must understand that something consequential has just taken place.

The US government is backtracking—if not altogether retreating—from the trade war and broader escalation it launched against China. Unlike the hyped language and repeated threats by President Donald Trump to impose massive “reciprocal tariffs,” to “decouple” the US economy from China, and to correct “the greatest theft of wealth in the history of the world,” the retreat is happening in hushed tones and coded diplomatic language.

“I think both countries concluded that having an all-out global trade war between the United States and China would be deeply damaging to both sides and to the world,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 25th February.

He called this new phase one of “strategic stability.”

Rubio’s words are misleading. It was not China, nor any other country, that instigated the trade war. It began under the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ doctrine. On 22nd March 2018, Trump signed a presidential memorandum imposing tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. By 6th July, 25 percent tariffs were in effect on $34 billion in Chinese imports.

The escalation continued. In September 2018, the United States imposed tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods—initially at 10 percent, later raised to 25 percent in May 2019. The logic was simple: apply sufficient economic pressure to force Beijing into structural........

© Middle East Monitor