Welcome to the U.S.-China Cold Soup War

Don’t mistake a thaw in trade relations as a resolution of core issues—tensions increasingly look like a permanent feature of the investment environment

Nathaniel Taplin

May 21, 2018 9:51 a.m. ET

Headlines on trade these days are like leftover pea soup—sometimes hot, sometimes chilly, always unsatisfying.

Saturday’s joint Sino-U.S. statement following talks in Washington—essentially a vague call for larger Chinese purchases of U.S. goods and better intellectual property protection—was thin gruel. Still, Asian stocks rose Monday, with China’s main benchmark up 0.5%. U.S. stocks may follow suit, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s statement that the U.S. is “putting the trade war on hold.” Just in case the complete...