CHINA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s tough policy on China trade took shape in a White House meeting last August—and at the center was an often-overlooked man. Decades of quiet negotiations had gotten nowhere, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told senior White House advisers and cabinet officials gathered in the Roosevelt Room…U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, linked by videophone, asked for a chance to conduct another round of talks based on a rapport he was developing with the Chinese. He found little support. It was time to act, starting with a formal investigation of China for unfair trade practices, Mr. Lighthizer argued.”
-Bob Davis, “The Architect of Trump’s Threatened China Trade War,” The Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2018 11:20 am