Leibowitz: Is the China truce real or a Band-Aid?

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday had a much-anticipated meeting. Is it only a hiatus in the trade war, or did it really change the situation? I suspect the former, I but hope for the latter.

China and the US have been at loggerheads for years, as everyone knows. Perhaps the key event occurred back in 2001, when, shortly after 9/11, China was admitted to the World Trade Organization. China expressed sympathy for the US after the attacks. And it supported the Doha Development Agenda, the ministerial conference that convened in the Qatari capital in November 2001. These events played on a sense of global solidarity in the face of terrorism. The hope? That more open trade would lead to a more peaceful world.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.