TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY MAOISM: Among all the complaints about the administration’s China trade policy, it’s often overlooked that Xi is no Deng, and is happy to warp international trade for domestic purposes. AEI’s Derek Scissors looks at the implications:

Xi will be in power indefinitely, leaving little hope for genuine change and leading to broader American antagonism as his personal dictatorship persists.

American policymakers demanding the PRC abandon much of its industrial policy can seem naïve. It’s more likely they have come to accept a painful trade conflict because they don’t believe China is truly willing to become a good partner. After 25 years of enormous expansion, the US-PRC economic relationship is going to shrink, sooner or later.

More on this from Derek here.