US and China should learn to tango rather than fight a trade war

The severe smog that shrouds Chinese cities and the traffic woes that haunt US cities are reminders of how much the two countries can learn from and help each other in tackling such issues instead of engaging in a trade war which the incoming US administration has hinted it will initiate.

This week, Beijing is once again under a very high alert, shortly after a red one, the most severe smog warning in a four-tier system, announced on Dec 16.

Amid the New Year holiday celebrations and partying, the toxic smog that has blanketed the Chinese capital has become the most talked-about subject of all domestic social media. People's anxiety has reached levels never seen before. They have compared notes on which masks are the most effective and most have expressed dissatisfaction with the efforts made to tackle the smog in the past years, which have made little progress.