News Summary

• A series of tit-for-tat moves this week by the two superpowers has thrust trade hostilities back in the global spotlight.
• “Let’s poke the bear again,” economist Aleksandar Tomic, an associate dean at Boston College, said of the renewed sparring.
• With so much unknown about any possible behind-the-scenes negotiations, it is hard to gauge who might have the upper hand.
• But China may sense an opening, with Trump challenged by a government shutdown and the impacts of the ongoing trade war.