US should heed the lessons of history

On Thursday, the day after the 12th round of trade talks concluded on a "constructive" note, according to US negotiators, the US leader threatened to levy 10 percent additional duties on another $300 billion of Chinese goods starting Sept 1, breaking the promise that it would not impose further tariffs on Chinese imports.

Not being content with that, the White House also had issued a memorandum to the United States trade representative demanding it "use all available means to secure changes at the WTO that would prevent self-declared developing countries from availing themselves of flexibilities in WTO rules." Worse, it threatened to take unilateral measures against such countries if substantial progress was not made at the World Trade Organization within 90 days.

From bilateral to multilateral forums, the US has been using every platform to put "maximum pressure" on China in the hope that it would cave in.