Don’t be fooled by the trade deal between America and China
The planet’s biggest break-up is under way
ON JANUARY 15TH, after three years of a bitter trade war, America and China are due to sign a “phase one” deal that trims tariffs and obliges China to buy more from American farmers. Don’t be fooled. This modest accord cannot disguise how the world’s most important relationship is at its most perilous juncture since before Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong re-established links five decades ago. The threat to the West from China’s high-tech authoritarianism has become all too clear. Everything from its pioneering artificial-intelligence firms to its gulags in Xinjiang spread alarm across the world.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Poles apart”
From the January 4th 2020 edition
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