China pledged to lower the tariffs and protect intellectual property. This seem to have made many investers happy, but would this prevent further trade war? Maybe not...Philip Aldrick of The Times briefs the long feud starting way before Trump.
He argues:
- In 2008, during the Bush administration, the US decided to join a trade-deal which is now called the Trans Pacific Partenship partly to isolate China before they get too strong and competitive to challenge the US.
- Obama enthusiastically backed this strategy and expanded the membership to include a total of 12 countries. They planned to remove the so called "non-tariff barriers" and turn it into Washington's way and exclude China, especially on state-owned enterprises and intellectual properties.
- Obama tried further to isolate China by agreeing on a trade round with the EU, but China counteracted by launching the "One Belt One Road" initiative.
- Trump is doing the same thing, just in a more direct way.
So... it's not something that just started, or Trump has suddenly launched.
It has been going on for ages, and it's likely to keep on going.