Nine Months Lost: When Policy Becomes Purgatory in US-China Trade

You know, sometimes, in the often-murky world of international diplomacy and economic sparring, someone just says what everyone’s been thinking. And this week, that someone was Derek Scissors from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a man whose observations rarely pull punches. His assertion? A rather stark one, honestly: the last nine months of U.S.-China trade policy? "A waste of time."

It’s a bold claim, isn't it? But for many, it might just resonate. After all, we've watched these policy machinations unfold, seen the headlines, heard the pronouncements, yet the tangible progress, the genuine shifts in the bilateral trade dynamic, seem… well, elusive, to say the least. Scissors, always one for cutting through the diplomatic niceties, points to a period where, despite all the effort, the meetings, the pronouncements, there’s been little—perhaps nothing—to show for it. It's almost like a political Groundhog Day, in truth.

What exactly does that mean, a "waste of time"? It’s more than just a lack of progress; it suggests an expenditure of resources, attention, and diplomatic capital on strategies that simply haven’t delivered. Imagine dedicating almost a year to a critical endeavor, only to find yourself essentially back at square one, or maybe even a step or two behind. That’s the feeling he seems to be tapping into, that deep-seated frustration with an approach that, for all its good intentions, appears to have yielded precious little in the way of meaningful outcomes.

And it begs the question, doesn't it? If the established policy trajectory has been so unproductive, what does that say about the underlying assumptions guiding these discussions? Perhaps the very framework for engagement needs a drastic re-think. Or maybe, just maybe, the expectations themselves were fundamentally misaligned with the realities of the U.S.-China relationship. Because, let’s be honest, this isn’t just about economics; it’s interwoven with geopolitical strategy, national security, and an ever-evolving global power balance.

So, where do we go from here? Scissors' commentary, though blunt, serves as a vital, if uncomfortable, wake-up call. It challenges policymakers to look beyond the performative aspects of diplomacy and confront the efficacy of their actions. Because time, as they say, is money. And in the high-stakes arena of U.S.-China relations, wasting nine months isn't just an inefficiency; it's a significant strategic misstep that could, in the long run, carry far heavier costs than we might immediately realize.