Michael Schuman, Columnist

Trump’s China Trade “Win” Will Cost the U.S.

The U.S. president looks likely to settle yet again for minor concessions in a high-stakes negotiation, this time with long-term consequences.

February 26, 2019 at 12:00 AM UTC

By Michael Schuman

Michael Schuman is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub and the author of "Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World" and "The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia's Quest for Wealth."

Fixing the trade imbalance won’t even the playing field in China.
Photographer: AFP/Getty Images

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Donald Trump believes he is about to score yet another big win on trade, this time with China. Progress in talks with Beijing, he claims, has been so “substantial” that he’s delayed a looming March 1 deadline and is likely headed for a summit with China’s President Xi Jinping to finalize a long-awaited settlement.

This latest “win,” however, is shaping up to be a typical Trump victory -- much, much more smoke than fire. And the potential consequences could be costly: long-term damage to U.S. credibility with China and, more broadly, within the entire global economic order.