Trump Would Further Damage U.S. Manufacturing If He Restricts Steel Imports
Daniel Pearson
Cato Institute, June 22

President Trump has instructed the Commerce Department to investigate whether steel imports are hurting national security and will potentially use the results to justify readjusting trade policy. The author believes that further restrictions on steel imports would be damaging to the U.S. for multiple reasons – namely it would actually harm steel end-users within the U.S. manufacturing sector as well as invite retaliatory action from other states.

Balancing ‘One Country’ With ‘Two Systems’: a Look Back at 20 years of an Often Uneasy
Relationship Between Hong Kong and Beijing
Jimmy Cheung and Tony Cheung
South China Morning Post, June 26

The authors review the past 20 years of Hong Kong’s history to answer the question of whether the “One Country, Two Systems” policy has been successful for Hong Kong. One turning point in Hong Kong’s history occurred during the 2003 SARS crisis, where Hong Kongers protested national security laws and Beijing’s handling of the SARS crisis. Since then Beijing has continually tried to take a greater role in Hong Kong’s affairs such as its proposed implementation of national education in 2012 and election reform in 2014. Beijing loyalists criticize those who resist closer integration while pan-democrats are wary of Beijing’s political system.

U.S.-China Relations: Good Start, But Difficult Challenges Ahead
Robert Wang
The National Law Review, June 28

The author gives a summary of U.S.-China relations under the first five months of the Trump administration. Apart from the Taiwan’s leader Tsai’s phone call to President Trump, the relationship has been surprisingly positive with positive developments taking place in the Diplomatic and Security Dialogue and the completion of the 100-day action plan. However critical challenges remain, as these communications only began to address the issues that have yet to be resolved such as the South China Sea disputes, North Korea, and trade issues.

China is Trump’s Chump
Thomas Friedman
The New York Times, June 28

While receiving relatively little news coverage in the U.S. media, the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) was widely interpreted in the Asia Pacific as a huge economic blunder, to China’s benefit. TPP was a free trade agreement that included enough countries to be have been the world’s largest free trade agreement and notably excluded China. The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated significant boosts to U.S. national income , but with the deal dying, the focus on the region has turned to China’s Regional Comprehensive Economic Plan (RCEP). Unlike TPP, RCEP lacks labor and environmental regulations.