CHINA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “China has called President Trump’s bluff. Chinese negotiators left Washington this weekend with a significant win: a willingness by the Trump administration to hold off for now on imposing tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese imports. China gave up little in return, spurning the Trump administration’s nudges for a concrete commitment to buy more goods from the United States, and avoiding limits on its government-led efforts to build new high-tech Chinese industries. The trade fight is far from over. And large Chinese technology companies in particular could still be vulnerable if the United States decides to start punching again, with administration officials appearing to back away from Mr. Trump’s pledges to help ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company hit with severe American penalties. Still, the latest round of negotiations showed that a confident China could be more than a match for divided American negotiators who have made often discordant demands. Mr. Trump, who proclaimed earlier this year that ‘trade wars are good, and easy to win,’ and his advisers may find that extracting concessions from China is much harder than they expected it would be.”
–Keith Bradsher, “Trump’s Charm and Threats Aren’t Working on China. Here’s Why.,” The New York Times online, May 21, 2018