• The U.S.-China trade dispute appears to be ending: Signals are pointing to a done deal. Based on those signs, China will continue to run large trade surpluses with the U.S., and it will never accept Washington-imposed reforms of its trade and industry.
• U.S. President Donald Trump was apparently (ill) advised that China’s readiness to reduce the bilateral trade imbalance won’t be enough.
• An election-bound Trump wants the China trade problem out of the way.

Trump was apparently (ill) advised that China’s readiness to reduce the bilateral trade imbalance won’t be enough. No, Washington needed to impose on China enforceable structural reforms. Without that, as has been frequently repeated by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, China’s destabilizing trade surpluses would be back in no time. – CNBC

This is a no win situation for Trump.  Markets will rally temporarily and then sell, in our opinion.

Also, lot’s of Mad King risk.

Trump will be accused of being weak and out negotiated.   Fox News is already pounding him to nuke the China trade deal.  Conversely,   Forbes is saying the March 1 tariffs cometh.

Who knows how POTUS will react to another one of these covers?

There is history.

Go no further than the recent government shutdown.  A repeat, similar to that, will be a disaster.

Oh yes,  you did hear it here waay first.

Kudos to POTUS for trying but the U.S. would be in much better shape if the administration had handled the China talks with a multilateral approach, enlisting allies – who were with us — and negotiating through the World Trade Organization (WTO).