Will the trade war become a cold war?

Or will Trump and Xi make a deal?

President Trump and Xi Jinping.
(Image credit: Nicolas Asfouri / Getty Images)

As Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping head into the G-20 leaders' summit in Buenos Aires this week, "neither China nor the U.S. is in a conciliatory mood," said Shane Hickey at The Guardian. That means no end is in sight for the "game of tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's goods." Investors are holding on to hope that the meeting, the biggest annual gathering of world leaders to discuss the international economy, may ease the enmity. The U.S. wants to pressure China into changing what Trump calls its unfair trade practices. U.S. demands include giving American companies greater access to China's market, and an end to requirements that American businesses give up valuable technology to Chinese partners. In recent days, "the outlook has not looked so rosy," but any kind of civil talks may placate the market.

This tense trade war has been building for a long, long time, said Philip Pan at The New York Times. "The Chinese economy has grown so fast for so long now that it is easy to forget how unlikely its metamorphosis into a global powerhouse was." China is now the world leader in number of homeowners, internet users, college graduates, "and, by some counts, billionaires." Thirty-five years ago, 75 percent of China's populace lived in extreme poverty by world standards; that's now down to 1 percent. This astonishing growth was aided nearly every step of the way by the U.S. The hope: "Prosperity would fuel popular demands for political freedom and bring China into the fold of democratic nations." It didn't happen. China has found its success in its own way, with leaders calling themselves communists while embracing capitalism. Surprising political changes occurred — but they weren't in China. "China's rise as an export colossus was felt in factory towns around the world." In the U.S., that amounted to upwards of two million factory jobs lost, many in areas that voted for Trump.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us