Trump’s Three-Front World War: Money, Guns and Politics
Pick any flavor of confrontation you desire and the president is ready to serve you.
His dukes are perpetually up.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North AmericaPresident Donald Trump took office promising to make great deals with trading partners, foreign rivals and Democrats. After more than two years in office, his tactics have left him at intractable loggerheads with all three.
On trade, Trump has almost settled disputes with Canada and Mexico, but still awaits uncertain approval in Congress. He has put a spat with Europe on ice only to dedicate his full attention to a red-hot trade war with China. Today his Commerce Department turned the heat down a smidgen, allowing some temporary wiggle room in a ban on Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. Markets rallied, as some people hope this means Trump is simply threatening Huawei as a bargaining tactic. But the concessions offered are minor, Tim Culpan writes, and any hope of Trump letting Huawei off the hook is naive, Tim warns. China, meanwhile, keeps hunkering down and may soon let its currency weaken past a key level, deepening hostilities, writes John Authers.