A 'mellowed' Trump no reason for Beijing to be complacent

As trade tensions ratchet up between the world's two largest economies with US President Donald Trump directing the US Trade Representative last week to identify Chinese goods worth $100 billion for additional tariffs, some academics are trying to explain the chaos.

Economic globalization is at a crossroads, with trade protectionism and unilateralism on the rise, Jon Taylor, a professor of political science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, said on Tuesday.

As Trump moves the US away from global institutional rules, President Xi Jinping's vision, re-emphasized at the Boao Forum for Asia on Tuesday, promotes China's alignment with globalization principles, principles the US appears to be abandoning, Taylor said.