S EVEN YEARS ago, when America’s trade war with China was just getting started, the Chinese science and technology ministry did something unusual. Its official newspaper, which usually confines itself to puff pieces about China’s accomplishments,

U.S. soybean exports to China ground to a halt last month following Beijing’s 44-percent tariff on the legume, an effective ban imposed in May in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s import duties on Chinese goods.

Yet for all the talk, the deal made clear that China no longer needs much of the commodity.

Economic relations between the two countries are more fraught than ever: in early October, for the second time in just six months, the United States and China launched a trade war, imposing prohibitive export restrictions and threatening to raise tariffs to previously unthinkable levels.

What to make of American foreign policy in the age of Donald Trump? From welcoming Anthony Albanese warmly in Washington to a jovial jaunt through Malaysia and South Korea, and then an ostensibly friendly meeting with China’s Xi Jinping,

The White House and South Korean government continue to haggle over the details of Seoul's $350 billion investment commitment.