“Trump does not see China as an enemy,” said Michael Pillsbury, a scholar of the Chinese military at the Hudson Institute who has informally advised the White House. “In fact, he has shown remarkable restraint when it comes to China.”
Michael Pillsbury, a China expert at the Hudson Institute, said that leaving more uncertainty in the agreement could foster more trade fights between the world’s two largest economies, particularly given a complex enforcement mechanism the two sides previously agreed to establish to ensure both countries lived up the agreement.
“In my study of Chinese negotiating tactics, in almost every case, they believe the end game is where they can score the most points,” Michael Pillsbury, a China scholar at the Hudson Institute and an adviser on China to the White House. “They’ll be totally prepared for this final phase.”