My Trade Secrets today. The Trump-Xi trade conflict is heading towards an uneasy cold war-type truce between the US and China, not an escalation.
Also: what do you do if you're a smallish economy like the UK being bounced around between the trade behemoths? Damned if I know. First 300 clicks free.
[The approaching cold war trade...](https://on.ft.com/4o2WQKK )
Although baked beans taste vile it's permissible to eat them as there aren't close alternatives (ie something similar you can put on eg toast or baked potato). But the far superior mustard can substitute for all functions of tomato ketchup and it is therefore morally wrong to eat tomato ketchup.
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My Trade Secrets column today. Trump's been thrashing round with his tariffs for nearly nine months now but the global economy's doing....not too badly?
I look at why, and also note there's a much bigger threat from the AI bubble and the US's renewed addiction to fossil fuels.
[The AI bubble is a bigger glob...](https://on.ft.com/4qlkyDF )
BTW let's appreciate the sheer bathetic comedy of Trump's threats sliding from WE'RE GOING TO BAN ALL CRITICAL SOFTWARE WE WILL BRING YOUR ECONOMY TO A HALT down to WE'LL MAKE OUR OWN COOKING OIL SEE IF WE DON'T.
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With few exceptions (eg the plot of Macbeth and the character of Jeeves), all Shakespeare and Wodehouse plots and characters are forgettable or contrived, which only underlines how astonishingly brilliant their language has to be to make them the greatest playwright and comic novelist in English.
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My Trade Secrets newsletter today. Declare trade war on Friday, in full retreat by Sunday. Donald Trump's brought a knife (tariffs) to a gunfight (rare earths) with China. He's in a weak position and he's playing it badly.
ALSO: global steel trade and Argentina are in a mess. Aren't they always?
[Donald Trump’s weekend retreat...](https://on.ft.com/42FXhC1 )
