Trump's incompetence is just mind-blowing. Anyone could have told you that the Chinese would hit back across issue-linkages if we targeted its export trade. Presumably they'll be tougher on the South China Sea too. Was there any US counter-planning for this near-certainty on /1
issues where we work with China, like North Korean denuclearization? It appears not and that POTUS is winging it through Twitter yet again. And for what all this extra China discord? A trade war that every serious economist thinks is a major mistake even on its own terms. /2
Every Korea expert knew that talking North Korea into a denuclearization deal would be hugely difficult - and that Trump most certainly did not do that at Singapore, no matter what he says on Twitter. And then Trump just made that even harder by alienating China with a trade /3
war which is not a good idea anyway. So: the trade war is an error; China is diminishing cooperation in response; and the North Korea denuclearization effort is in its worst condition since the Singapore summit. This is bad ideas compounding each other. More winning, I guess. END
