President Donald Trump rewrote Washington’s rules for dealing with China in his first presidency, embracing confrontation, launching a trade war and upending decades of policy. In his second term, China hawks in Washington fear that Trump is going soft.
As Trump pursues a trade pact with the US’s biggest economic and strategic rival, advocates of a tougher China policy fear they’re being sidelined inside the administration as the tech industry’s influence grows — alongside the president’s appetite for what he’s called “a big deal.”