BEIJING ¨C The Chinese New Year¡¯s holiday, approaching this weekend, is traditionally a time of gift-giving and celebration in the Middle Kingdom. This year, no one is likely to be celebrating more than President Xi Jinping.
On Monday, Xi¡¯s U.S. counterpart signed an order withdrawing American support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The move fulfilled one of President Donald Trump¡¯s central campaign pledges. Since the 12-nation free trade pact was a Washington initiative, and other signatories made concessions largely in expectation of access to the huge U.S. market, his signature all but issued the deal¡¯s death warrant. Trump touted the move as a ¡°great thing for the American worker.¡±
In fact, it¡¯s a great thing for the Chinese economy and government. One of the few things that seemed clear about Trump¡¯s foreign policy was that he wanted to get tougher on China ¡ª to limit its geopolitical ambitions and end its allegedly unfair trade practices. He¡¯s just made both tasks much harder.
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