Renminbi Wars

The United States government has labeled China a currency manipulator, further escalating the trade war between the two countries. With US President Donald Trump seemingly bent on confrontation, what might come next?

In this Big Picture, Paola Subacchi of Queen Mary University of London fears that Trump’s reckless posturing and zero-sum approach to international trade are giving China little incentive to cooperate. Benjamin J. Cohen of the University of California, Santa Barbara, shares these concerns, but holds out hope that the US and China may yet reach some form of currency détente.

Harvard’s Jeffrey Frankel, meanwhile, says that the world should be far more afraid of a full-blown trade war than a currency spat. Finally, Mohamed A. El-Erian of Allianz takes a broader view, arguing that the US-China trade dispute is just one of many obstacles to faster and more inclusive global growth.