Yuqing Xing is a professor of economics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.
As of today, Chinese exports to the U.S. are subject to tariffs of 125% or higher. Should they remain, decoupling between the world's two largest economies would be inevitable. To understand why the escalation of the U.S.-China trade war has been so dramatic, it is critical to understand the fundamental differences between the two countries and why past negotiations failed to lead a truce.



