Jaw-jaw is better than war-war. These words, falsely attributed to Winston Churchill, give the right response to the announcement of an agreement on 10 initial points in the “US-China comprehensive economic dialogue.” The fact that this limited agreement is being hailed by the Trump administration gives us reason to hope that the risk of trade conflict is falling.
The points announced on May 11 are in themselves modest. It is, in any case, inconceivable that any deal could eliminate the US trade deficit with China, which exceeded $300bn in 2015. But the fact that the two superpowers are talking is a good sign. That Donald Trump is willing to call Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, “a great guy” reinforces the optimism.
So what has been agreed?