The Chinese New Year's holiday, approaching this weekend, is traditionally a time of gift-giving and celebration in the Middle Kingdom. This year, no one is likely to be celebrating more than President Xi Jinping.
On Monday, Xi's U.S. counterpart signed an order withdrawing American support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The move fulfilled one of President Donald Trump's central campaign pledges. Since the 12-nation free trade pact was a Washington initiative, and other signatories made concessions largely in expectation of access to the huge U.S. market, his signature all but issued the deal's death warrant. Trump touted the move as a "great thing for the American worker."
In fact, it's a great thing for the Chinese economy and government. One of the few things that seemed clear about Trump's foreign policy was that he wanted to get tougher on China — to limit its geopolitical ambitions and end its allegedly unfair trade practices. He's just made both tasks much harder.