How Trump’s China Trade War Could Play Out: QuickTake Q&A

Donald Trump invoked China so much as a candidate that his mere pronunciation of the word became something of a craze. Now that he is president, Trump has the chance to take action against the country he blames the most for stealing American jobs, intellectual property and capital. But a trade war, like a real war, can have retaliatory strikes and collateral damage, which might be why Trump has already delayed one of his promised salvos.

As a candidate, Trump pledged to label China a currency manipulator "on day one" of his administration. That didn’t happen. He also said he’d bring cases against China for "unfair subsidy behavior" and use "every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes," including the application of tariffs. He once broached a tax of 45 percent on imports from China, then denied bringing it up.