China-US trade relations: keeping the lipstick off the pig

© Cherezoff

This is a thoughtful and considered article on US-China trade relations. It looks at the failure of the recent talks and how the US might best resolve that, to address, among other things, the overproduction of steel. But it also looks at the bigger picture: the trade deficit. The writer, a trade expert for the Stimson Center, argues that there are two ways to reduce the deficit: buy less, or sell more. So far, the focus from the US has been on buying less, but perhaps the US should instead be considering how to stop “the persistent Chinese effort to acquire and exploit American ideas and technology, legally or illegally, and deny US companies the fruits of their innovation by pushing them out of China and eventually undercutting them elsewhere”. An interesting read.