In his own mind, President Trump is a four-dimensional dealmaker who always outsmarts his counterparties. In his real-world trade war, however, Trump has shown his cards to his most potent adversary and revealed some of his constraints.
Several weeks of manic tariff activity by Trump and mass confusion in financial markets have finally provided some clarity: Though Trump wants to remake America’s entire trade system, his real target is China.
Through April 9, Trump had imposed new tariffs on imports from virtually every country, plus additional import taxes on certain product categories including automobiles, steel and aluminum. Nobody got a reprieve.
As financial markets cratered, Trump finally backed down on April 9 by suspending most of his country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs for at least 90 days, until early July. The one notable exception is China, which got…
