, Columnist
In Trade Spat, China Has a Secret Weapon
American companies could face a popular backlash.
Watch out.
Photographer: Peter Parks/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
Markets are quivering as fears of a U.S.-China trade war ebb and flow. Thus far, they've mostly been focused on tariffs that President Donald Trump wants to impose on a range of Chinese goods, and China's threats to retaliate. But investors may be overlooking a bigger risk in this dispute.
It's true that duties on U.S. imports would hurt -- hands are already wringing in farm country -- but there's a limit to how much pain they can really inflict. The persistent worry that China will dump its mammoth holdings of Treasury bills is probably unfounded as well.