Trump's trade posturing against China is very confused

In the grand scheme of Chinese trade problems, why go after intellectual property?

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Saul Loeb)

Officially, President Trump is in the middle of a 17-day "working vacation." But according to a White House announcement, Trump temporarily dropped the "vacation" part on Monday and returned to Washington, D.C. The pressing issue that tore the president away from his New Jersey golf club? Taking a largely symbolic jab at China over trade.

The president signed a memorandum on Monday instructing U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider investigating China for stealing American technology and intellectual property. This is hardly a new complaint: The European Union, Germany, Japan, and Canada have all made similar accusations — which Chinese officials, needless to say, deny.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.