The key take-away from the phase one trade pact with China which U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week is that it is in fact phase one of one. There will be no phase two because of how Chinese President Xi Jinping played Trump.
Trump got none of what he really needed. Xi now knows how to navigate around his demands to stop subsidizing state-owned enterprises. He has a road map for deflecting calls to halt forced technology transfers. He also has firsthand experience of how to keep Trump away from Xi's Made in China 2025 domestic manufacturing plan.
