The U.S. and China Don’t Need to Be Enemies

For the second time, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have met at a G-20 summit and agreed to a truce of sorts in their fight over trade. Yet even the conditions for that truce appear to be uncertain, while the differences that divide their two nations are no closer to being bridged. The path from here to a lasting compromise remains far from clear.

What’s most striking about this trade war is the breadth of domestic support that Trump, an unpopular and divisive president, has received for his policy. Critics who rage against almost everything the president says or tweets seem to think he is right about China. Lately, elite opinion has hardened dramatically, and not just on trade. There’s acquiescence, if not enthusiasm, over the administration’s efforts to browbeat China’s leaders, cripple its tech companies, root out suspected spies, limit Beijing’s geopolitical sway and encourage a decoupling of the world’s two biggest economies. A new cold war seems well underway.