Good deal of progress made; it should not be squandered

The US administration's plan to raise tariffs, released on Wednesday, was both surprising and to be expected.

Surprising, as its claim that the reason for the tariff hikes was that negotiations between the two countries were regressing differs starkly from the US administration's previous remarks that good progress was being made in the trade talks.

To be expected, as it is not the first time that the United States has sought to turn the screws on China in an attempt to hustle an advantage in the negotiations.