EACH DAYPresident Donald Trumpchanges the termsof his trade war with the world. One constant, though, is his confidence that America can win a pain-infliction contest withChina. The president’s self-assurance reflects a cherished belief: that previous leaders through a mixture of naivety and greed allowed China to steal American jobs and industries. To hear Mr Trump tell it, as soon as tariffs on Chinese goods bite, trade flows will start to rebalance. Trump aides play down the sky-high tariffs that China has imposed on American goods in retaliation. Leaders in Beijing will blink, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, recently predicted: “I believe it’s up to China to de-escalate because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them.”
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “America’s economic-pain war with China”
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