In any conflict, you have to recruit allies. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, that’s also true of his trade war.
Some of his advisers understand this: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intends to use the "90-day pause” he won from the president to round up old friends and encircle Beijing, or at least he did before saying China tariffs are not sustainable.
Given that Washington is trusted far less in Asia these days, that might be a big ask for Bessent and his colleagues. But we shouldn’t dismiss the effort out of hand, either. Many countries would be happy to see the current structure of Trump’s tariffs — disproportionately targeted at China — continue indefinitely.
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