Trade talks no reason to drop guard

President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump may have agreed at the G20 summit in Osaka to resume trade negotiations, but the path to ending the trade war remains far from clear. After all, the two leaders had reached a similar agreement at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in December 2018 and that agreement ultimately failed, not least because the United States administration mistook China's conciliatory attitude for weakness.

Whether the US administration makes the same mistake this time remains to be seen. In any case, it is worth considering how the trade war might unfold over the coming months and years - and what China can do to protect itself.

US has not withdrawn tariffs it imposed earlier