In reality, China is now hemorrhaging foreign-exchange reserves and desperately trying to prop up the renminbi’s value in the face of capital flight.
Trump is apparently antagonizing China for no good reason. Worse, by announcing that the US will withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership – designed, at least in part, to shape global trade and investment flows according to Western rules, rather than China’s mercantilist vision – Trump is also abandoning a US policy that could have checked China’s surging influence in Asia.
Since Trump’s TPP announcement, many Asian countries have now pledged to join a regional trade bloc spearheaded by China. With Trump’s help, the “Chinese Century” may arrive sooner than anyone expected.
By moving closer to Taiwan, attacking China on phantom grounds, and dismantling the TPP, Trump is provoking China while simultaneously empowering and enabling it. This is not the art of the deal. It’s the road to disaster.
By Yasheng Huang. This article was first published by Project Syndicate
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