America’s China Headache

For the first time, trade with China was a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with both candidates making charges and countercharges in the debates, campaign advertisements, and stump speeches. Economic and trade tensions between Beijing and Washington have been steadily tense for decades, with flash points on issues ranging from supplies of rare earth metals to currency exchange rates. The economic relationship is undeniably complex with each country benefitting in different ways from hundreds of billions of dollars in trade and investment with the other, but seemingly endless disputes have led observers to proclaim multiple times that the two economic behemoths are on the edge of a trade war.