The view that the Chinese leadership was desperate to negotiate a trade deal, to avoid economic pain that could destabilize Chinese society and threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on power, is common among China hawks in the United States. This analysis is partly accurate, but it has led many to draw false conclusions.

Nations are being forced to choose between siding with China or the U.S. as President Donald Trump’s trade war locks the world’s two largest economies on a collision course.