Nobody Benefits From a U.S.-China Trade War With No End in Sight

It’s tempting to laugh off the U.S.-China trade dispute as a soap opera featuring men with big hair and bigger egos. Presidents Donald Trump of the U.S. and Xi Jinping of China once professed close friendship; now both feel jilted. The two countries are said to be “consciously uncoupling,” like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. Xi’s just not that into Donald, you know?

Except the consequences of this uncoupling—or decoupling or disengagement or whatever it’s called—are deadly serious. The world’s two largest economies, still heavily interdependent, are systematically chopping away at the ties that bind them. There is less trade, less investment, fewer students crossing borders to study, and fewer contacts between militaries.