Finance & economics | Tariff-hopping mad

Trump’s trade deals try a creative way to hobble China

To appease the world’s biggest market, countries must anger the world’s biggest trader

Illustration of a person in a blue suit with a red tie, seated at a red table with hands clasped together. In front of the person are colored shipping containers
Illustration: Alberto Miranda
|7 min read

In the first cold war between America and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers fought each other by proxy. Something similar is happening in America’s trade war with China. After conciliatory talks in Geneva and London, the two sides are no longer bashing each other with new tariffs. Instead, America is waging its war indirectly, through unfortunate third countries.

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