Xi has been made emperor and now he is going to prove his standing against the president who "sold steaks through the mail for a living". Hopefully he will take a level hand to it. What would an economist say? Don't get in a trade war, it is just a damaging mess and .. please be patient China?
In all fairness china does siphon hundreds of billions a year through trade. I'd be willing to bet a good chunk of the stuff that USA imports from China is pure junk that does nothing to better the lives of Americans. This is one experiment I would like to see happen. Even if Trump is wrong and it makes everything worse I'm a believer in trying it and see what happens. I love the volatility it causes too.
It will be good to get some of the Chinese products displaced though people like cheap and disposable however wasteful in the US. A fair degree of this is blaming your baker for making you fat with his delicious cinnamon roles and such. Every country has this problem with garbage (but well enough made) products from China now. In Colombia/Ecuador the traditional craft producers are almost gone in many areas. They discovered that they could make the same or more money selling cheap Chinese bras and knickers and whatnot junk. One of the largest markets in the world in Ecuador has more Chinese cheap stuff than is likely collected in any one spot in China. Colombian workers average less than the Chinese ones who make the junk and their salaries leave the country. A good way to deal with China is just to say, I don't need stuff, I'm not going to buy things just for the sake of it because they are a 'bargain'. Slim down the compulsive consumerism. You can blame your bank for your credit card debt or stop spending what you can't afford etc. Old fashioned fiscal conservatism.
We're in a throwaway society. Let the experiment begin. Acquire less "things" but those you do be of higher quality, last longer. The trade war has already been waged for decades. Time for the U.S. to wake up and correct the unfair practices. (jmho)
Okay, okay, but is America dumping things people don't need - or even ask for - in some parts of the world? Should rules be fair for every body or are they to be bent whenever they no longer please the empire?
I look forward to market volatility, trade wars, and more expensive consumer trinkets and trash. This is not the type of inflation that is a concern.