Donald Trump’s trade war is about protecting intellectual property

US president is targetting China because the latter requires that importers reveal their IPs, and this would be disastrous for US tech giants, says Daniel Gros.

WITH Donald Trump’s new trade tariffs, the United States has been transformed from the global, multilateral trading system’s leading champion to its nemesis.

But it would be difficult for an erratic politician to overturn long-established structures and mechanisms were it not for a more fundamental economic shift.