China’s Xi Sees Opportunity. He’s Calling Trump’s Tariff Bluff.

By William Pesek – Barron’s

It’s nice that Trump is delaying most tariffs by 90 days. But was that $10 trillion carnage in global markets really necessary? The unnecessary drama, and subsequent loss of trust in Washington, is a soft-power gift to China.

Xi’s party is the catalyst behind the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. It’s history’s biggest free-trade agreement, involving 15 nations that generate at least 29% of global gross domestic product. More Asian nations are likely to want to join RCEP to limit the collateral damage from Trump’s economic policies.

All of this offers China an opportunity to act as the elder statesman—and to seem like a stable protector of globalization.

Trump’s self-inflicted recession is something developed nations will remember.