A Roadmap for the Great U.S.-China Divorce
Washington needs allies if it really wants to decouple.
No midnight train to Georgia for this lot.
Photographer: Forbes Conrad/Bloomberg
As the trade war between the U.S. and China drags on with new tariffs and no end in sight, we need to ask ourselves: What do they want? A fundamental objective for both is to become less reliant on the other. The trade war should thus be reframed as a conscious uncoupling.
Behind the rhetoric from both sides lies a profound distrust. U.S. suspicion stems from two specific issues. China is increasingly seen as a national security threat that fails to play by the rules. The Trump administration’s stance has spurred debate over whether it was a mistake to allow admittance of a highly protectionist Communist country to the World Trade Organization. Democrats may dislike Trump’s methods, but few will disagree with his view of China as a dangerous rival.