RLK: Well certainly it’s a concern, but I would call ita minor annoyance as opposed to something extremely serious. They have a lot on their plate here. The last thing they want is a trade war with the U.S., but they have to react. If the U.S. does something, there has to be something that they will do in retaliation. They will ratchet it down. They will signal, as you do, that they do not want to accelerate this, but to save face and to be appropriate, they'll have to match it.
HOST: To you Minxin Pei, how do you see this playing out?
MP: If the investigations find China at fault, or guilty of some practices, then the US has a wide range of options to punish China ona trade front. And if these things happen, then US-China trade war will take place. Another thing I want to say is that US-China relations have turned a corner. This is a relationship that has headed toward a long period of confrontation, and adversarial relationships. So what is going to happen on the trade front is part of a much larger picture of geopolitical rivalry, if not competition.
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