US-China tensions - from trade war, temporary ceasefire to real wars?

"TRADE wars are good, and easy to win," US President Donald Trump tweeted in March 2018, making it clear he would act on his convictions, starting with his earlier decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The economic nationalist occupying the White House has continued to launch small and big trade wars against America's economic partners since then, starting by invoking a little-used national security provision to slap across-the-board tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, leading to retaliatory measures against US exports by the European Union, Japan, India and Mexico.

But the main target of the trade warriors in Washington has been China, with the Trump administration imposing tariffs on US$250 billion worth of Chinese goods, and with threats to impose another US$267 billion unless a trade deal was quickly reached. That resulted in Chinese countermeasures, including a 25 per cent tariffs on American soybeans and automobiles.