Trump wants to inflict more trade pain; Xi's southern tour and soothing words; Officials try to stabilize markets and instill confidence; Wang Qishan goes to Israel
Xi Jinping has arrived in Guangdong for what some seem to be hoping will be a New Era version of Deng Xiaoping's 1992 Southern Tour that unleashed a new wave of reform following nearly three years of repressive policies in the aftermath of June 4, 1989. It is a lot harder to unleash reform now than it was 26 years ago so consider me wary of the coming propaganda onslaught.
There is no question the government is concerned about the stock markets, confidence and the business environment, and a spate of meetings and pronouncements since Friday popped the stock markets at least on Monday.
Jonathan Swan of Axios had a very important story Sunday about the state of US-China trade relations and the possibility of a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G20 at the end of November. Swan, who may have the best sources in the Trump White House of any DC journalist, reports that:
President Trump has no intention of easing his tariffs on China, according to three sources with knowledge …