The choice of Mr. Lighthizer — and the trade tensions it underscores — leaves China in a difficult spot. Restrictions on exports to the United States will make those choices even harder for China. When he was in the Reagan administration, Mr. Lighthizer was the deputy United States trade representative overseeing industrial policy in old-economy industries like cars and steel. Mostly, the global trade group could authorize Beijing to impose trade restrictions on the United States’ much smaller exports to China. That prospect does not scare Mr. Lighthizer very much, as he made clear in his 2010 testimony.

Source: New York Times January 13, 2017 08:00 UTC