The Trump administration’s tariffs against China were recently ruled to violate international trade law. With a key stakeholder in the multilateral trading system willfully disregarding the very rules that it helped inscribe, the rules-bound order can only be worse off.

The imposition of so-called safeguard tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines under Section 201 of the US Trade Act is directed mainly at China and South Korea.

In warfare one seeks surrender, but in world affairs one seeks solutions.

President Trump’s decision to launch a Section 301 probe of China looks like a quick fix for the China-US trade imbalance. But the root causes of this imbalance require careful consideration and gradual solutions.

The WTO is the proper forum for resolving US-China disputes on IP. The alternative is trade war.

US President Donald Trump instructed the US Trade Representative to commence investigating Chinese infringement of intellectual property rights. By framing this effort under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, the Trump administration could impose high and widespread tariffs on Chinese imports.

President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into China’s commercial practices. This could provoke a trade war that will benefit neither side. Economic realities should prompt the US to play a more circumspect game.