The trade talks are not over yet, just the first phase. Imagine if we China spent hundreds of billions perfecting technology, only to step in at the last minute to steal it? China IS an economic threat and bad actors on the world stage. Any other country would face sanctions for things China has done. At least with tariffs, we get something out of it as well as a tool to influence their behavior.

Spot on (you beat me to it). How much is intellectual property worth? Leave it to alleged journalists not to comprehend what one of an individual's most valuable commodities is - ideas! Compound that with the theft of commercial info?

When all this began, we thought they would open their markets to where we could potentially expand our exports to over a billion people. That is typically how it works. Instead, China insisted that if we wanted to sell to China, our (high valued products) must be produced in China. They had to partner with them and 'share'. Now they're even looking at placing companies on a merit point system.

The other thing is national security. We are basically funded the buildup of the contested military island and they stole military secrets as well. I consider our economy a national security issue because we need lots and lots of money to defend ourselves and our allies. China is aggressively gaining more territory in Africa and South America. This impacts our military where ports are involved when we receive military supplies through that port.

China has influence over many of our 'elites', some of them ex-government -turned- lobbyists, who place China's needs above our own. The global corporations are not loyal to any particular country and lobby for China to serve their own monetary interests. I worry that someone with the values of China may one day dominate on the world stage, even as we decline. We could end up with more government and communist control. The democrats are already following the Chinese model.

Japan did the same thing. They made our companies partner with them and stole the technology.

It was ho hoBoJo on two simple premises, carbon neutral and get Brexit done..
Trump may have made the Xmas sales not get hurt with more tariffs, but he has to have a strategy...
Chaos on steroids won't do it as Brexit illustrated for the UK.. Markets like stability.

I see that this writer is like the rest of the demoTARDS, stuck on tiddlywinks while Our President is playing 4D chess, HILARIOUS!!!