Trump was dealt a winning hand on trade – his hardball negotiating tactics are squandering it

Credit: Alvinmann via MorgueFile.com

As President Donald Trump prepares to meet with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the G-20 summit on Nov. 30, the stakes could hardly be higher.

The two countries are in the middle of a trade war Trump launched earlier this year, one of the hardball negotiating strategies he believes can extract more benefits from trading partners. Such “economic bullying” was blamed for creating a first-ever deadlock at a recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.

So far, China shows few signs of budging in the face of mounting tariffs. Could Trump’s tough talk work? Or will it backfire on him and the Americans he represents?

View the complete November 29 article by James Lake, Associate Professor of Economics at Southern Methodist University on the Conversation website.