US must recover checks and balances of its political system

Americans are proud of their system of checks and balances established by their founding fathers. But as their President Donald Trump wages a trade war against the entire world, many feel that that system is broken.

The Trump administration fired the first shots in what could evolve into a full-fledged trade war in the past months by imposing punitive tariffs on washing machines and solar panels in the name to safeguard domestic industries, and then new steel and aluminum tariffs for alleged "national security". Both moves triggered retaliation from US trade partners and their complaints at the WTO.

Trump seems poised now to dramatically escalate the trade disputes with additional tariffs on $34 billion Chinese goods on Friday.