Subject: Re: Brace for Impact...
Are you under the impression that I'm a big fan of trade wars?

No, I'm under the impression that you think these tariffs are part of an effort to contain China.

They're not. They're an effort to reduce the U.S. bilateral trade deficit in goods (not services) with every country in the world. A tariff program that was an effort to contain China would look nothing like this.

The tariff program has higher tariffs against China, because it has higher tariffs against every country. All the tariff levels were set using exactly the same made-up formula, with no variation whatsoever whether the tariff helped to constrain China or not.

Any impact on China's place in the world, or our strategic relationship with them, is a side effect of this program - not a goal or objective.