, Columnist
China Has a Nuclear Option in the Trade War
It could trigger mutually assured economic destruction, if cooler heads don't prevail.
Ready for war.
Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images AsiaPacThis article is for subscribers only.
You go to trade war with the trade weapons you have, not the trade weapons you might want or wish to have at a later time.
When Donald Rumsfeld said a variation on this back in 2004, he was telling American troops to stop complaining about going to Iraq with inadequate gear. Today the U.S. is blustering into a different kind of war, a trade war with China, and it’s not clear it has the right weapons for this one, either.