Michael Schuman

Why Does Trump Want to Turn America Japanese?

Asia expert Ezra Vogel published his influential book “Japan as Number One” 40 years ago. At the time, he argued that the US needed to adopt aspects of Japan’s supposedly superior economic system if it wanted to compete with the East Asian powerhouse. Policymakers in Washington were wise to ignore…

History Could Doom US-China Trade Deal

Trade talks between the US and China seem to be hurtling toward a predictable conclusion -- the signing of a shallow deal that doesn’t solve the real issues dividing the world’s two largest economies. The coup de grace will likely come later this month in another high-profile summit between…

What North Korea Could Learn From Vietnam

Vietnam is more than a convenient neutral site for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Kim Jong Un, which is slated for later this month. The Southeast Asian nation is being held up as a model for what Kim’s isolated country could become if he adopts sweeping…

Huawei’s Problems Aren’t Just Political

The US pushed its campaign against Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. into hyperdrive on Monday, with the Department of Justice unveiling indictments against the Chinese telecom giant for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran and pilfering American commercial secrets. Some may see these latest…

China and US: Competition on Quality

Prospects for a trade deal between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Group of 20 meeting in Argentina are quite likely to founder on the question of China’s industrial strategies: While Beijing may be willing to buy more American goods to mollify Trump, it…

China’s Got Its Own Swamp

Beyond retaliating with more tariffs and ads in Iowa newspapers, Chinese leaders have yet to devise a coherent strategy for contending with US President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. Perhaps they can’t figure out what his divided and erratic administration actually wants. Or maybe they’re so…

A US-China Divorce Would Be Ugly

A financial adviser I know, Frank Astorino, says nothing destroys wealth like divorce. That’s a warning China and the US should keep in mind as they intensify their trade war. If they continue down the road they’re on, an economic separation between the world’s two largest economies is a very real…

Trump Is Making Trade Less Fair

From the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, he has said he wants to make trade “fair.” For too long, he argued, American companies and workers suffered as trading partners used tactics that stole jobs, damaged U.S. industry and widened deficits. The implication was that he’d work to…

Not All 'Bad' Deals Are Bad for US

President Donald Trump visits Asia this week focused on the supposedly bad deals his predecessors struck with America's partners in the region -- whether job-killing trade pacts or costly defense pledges. In Tokyo, he raised his hosts' "not fair" trade advantages. In South Korea, where he arrives…