A considerable irony underlies the impending US-China trade war. If you take a broader view of economic statistics, the huge American deficit with China that has so inflamed Donald Trump suddenly starts to look a lot smaller.
By orthodox measurements, the US trade deficit was $375bn last year because US exports to China were only $130bn while imports from China were $506bn.
But this misses a key aspect of the relationship that works strongly in favour of the US. After almost 40 years of US corporate investment in China, the subsidiaries of American multinationals based in China are doing a roaring trade selling goods and services to Chinese consumers.