More 4-D chess, this time on China? Or does Donald Trump want to consolidate whatever gains he can from “Liberation Day” before doing damage to commerce in the US?
A couple of days ago, both the US and China agreed to begin talks this weekend to resolve the trade war that has all but turned off the firehose of goods the latter exports to the former. Both sides had offered some marginal concessions and exemptions to sweeten prospects of negotiations, but China has thus far borne the brunt of the damage. The WSJ offered a bleak look today at China’s production and export woes, along with China’s claims of still-fabulous economic growth:
Overall, China said its export growth demonstrated surprising resilience last month, with the headline figure showing exports rising 8.1% in dollar-denominated terms in April from a year earlier.
But beneath that rosy number was…
