US should match Trump's friendlier tone with deeds

Tweeting about his country's trade spat with China, US President Donald Trump softened his tone on Sunday, claiming that "taxes will become reciprocal and a deal will be made on intellectual property", forecasting a "great future for both countries".

While China will hope he is doing more than just reading the tea leaves and that his conciliatory tone is in earnest, it will be aware that few are able to honor a friend who has prospered without envy and without wishing them at least some small misfortune.

And since the ongoing trade frictions between the world's two largest economies have been triggered by the Trump administration's obsession with the United States' trade deficit with China, which it seems to regard as a barometer of China's competitive economic prowess, and that the US' shortfall remains colossal, it is hard to place too much faith in Trump's fortune-reading skills and his prediction that everything is going to be hunky-dory unless he starts matching his words with actions.