Anxious US could use more trade tricks

The Donald Trump administration announced new tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods late on Monday even though US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin has invited China to a new round of talks later this month to settle the trade disputes. Why is the Trump administration still offering an olive branch to China while putting maximum pressure on it?

The US administration's actions are inextricably linked to President Donald Trump's "passive" position in US domestic politics. With less than 60 days to go, the US midterm elections are expected to be the fiercest in nearly two decades. Since Trump entered the White House, various US economic data have hit record highs, but the public still seems unhappy.

Trump's approval rating has fallen from 43 percent in July to about 40 percent now. It could even be 39 percent, as some authoritative polls show. This is rare and could be a warning sign, as only former US president Harry Truman had an approval rating below 40 percent before the 1946 midterm elections.