How China and the US avoid a tit for tat exchange and explore a new basis of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation through negotiations is particularly urgent.

U.S. President Trump signed orders on imposing stiff and sweeping new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. You may have heard about “Section 301” and “Section 232” investigations into steel, aluminum imports and unfair trade practices.

Trump is shooting himself in the foot.

Any U.S. decision to restrict imports based on the argument that an abundance of low-priced raw materials from a diversity of sources somehow threatens national security would lower the bar so significantly as to invite every other member of the World Trade Organization to invoke national security to protect favored industries.

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday he would impose hefty tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to protect U.S. producers, risking retaliation from major trade partners like China, Europe and neighboring Canada as well as helping to trigger a large selloff on Wall Street.

Both sides benefit from economic exchanges.

Top aides to President Donald Trump look to push a tough line on trade in talks on Thursday with an envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, with a White House official saying a frank exchange of views was expected.

Several top U.S. steel and aluminum executives have been invited to the White House on Thursday for what could be a major trade announcement, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

Despite the tensions between the two nations in both economic and geopolitical arenas, Washington and Beijing have generally recognized the mutual benefits of trade. This form of “controlled tension” has in the past been able to navigate the contours of various trade disputes. All that changed in 2016.