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1) I enjoyed watching the #frontlinePBS premiere of “Trump’s Trade War” last night. I thought @PBS did a good job of reflecting a range of views. A few quick observations jumped out... to.pbs.org/2UYgpWa
2)It was nice to see discussion go beyond "it's all Xi's fault" meme. Xi has given expression to China's growing ambitions in ways that have been discomforting to U.S., but Xi is more an inheritor than an architect of PRC ambitions. 2008 was watershed moment, 4 years before Xi...
3) The Trump administration has built its China trade strategy around an assumption of Chinese economic fragility, and a belief that Xi cannot afford trade confrontation with U.S. Such conditions were not evident in the reporting for the show...
4) The show captured the optimism in some parts of U.S. for shaking things up and trying out tariffs. It also highlighted the expectations that gain would accompany pain. Trump supporters supported “getting tough with China” for a purpose, not just on principle...
5) From my perspective, the show also did a public service in giving Bannon an opportunity to present himself as an ideologue unencumbered by facts and empowered by an attitude…
6) Time will tell how much support Bannon will attract for organizing U.S. policy around regime change in China. I doubt such thinking will find fertile ground with the American public, or with any American president, including Trump. Trump is transactional, not ideological.
