The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the American government would yet again cave to the demands of the Unions (Steelworkers, again!) and impose a tariff of up to 99 per cent on steel goods from China. This comes just days before President Obama is due to visit Beijing.  After attempting to create an illusion that these political disputes over trade were a thing of the past, this most recent piece of economic vandalism is bound to set off yet more rounds of tit-for-tat.  Predictably, the Chinese are not happy. and are looking to kick off their own round of anti-dumping investigations.

Amitendu Palit and Alec van Gelder have an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Asia today that argues for far greater economic cooperation between the world's two most populated countries, India and China.  In spite of the political bickering, most people would be surprised to note that China is India's most important trading partner, and that India is one of China's most important trading partner.  These ties are forging strong links between two of the 21st Century's most important economies and making Chinese and Indians realise there is much more to their relationship than disputes over national boundaries:

Today, there is an opportunity to strengthen the prospects of peace and to catapult growth higher still by a concerted political effort to remove existing barriers between the two nations. Research indicates two-way trade could rise above $100 billion in the next few years but this remains a tiny fraction of their combined GDP of $5.6 trillion. As a matter of national self-interest, both countries should act now.

"Aid Recovery With More, Not Less Trade", by Alec van Gelder.

That didn't take too long.  The Chinese have responded to the Obama tyre tariff debacle by imposing a 36 per cent tariff on all imported nylon from the United States.  The tariff applies to nylon producers from other parts of the world but make no mistake about this: by introducing this tariff, Beijing wants to send a message to Washington that it can harm American producers just as much as American legislators can harm their Chinese counterparts.  The trouble is that each step along the way, producers and consumers from both China and the United States are harmed by the mindless tit-for-tat.

Another absurd twist in this political dispute is that this specific target - nylon - is a product that was developed and produced because of trade and collaboration between researchers and producers in two different countries, based in New York and London - hence "NyLon".