Of all the issues that will be on the table when President Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping this week at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, none is more important for the U.S. and global economies than China’s mercantilist campaign to dominate advanced industries by flouting the rules of the international trading system, writes Rob Atkinson in the Washington Post. Trump is right when he says that China has been eating our lunch and that it is time to do something about it. The response can’t be flaccid appeasement though, because the status quo is untenable. And it can’t be a retreat toward economic nationalism, because that would cede the global playing field. Instead, the U.S. must pursue a new doctrine of constructive, alliance-backed confrontation. It must lead an international coalition that pressures China to stop rigging markets and start competing fairly.
