A truce on whose terms? Trump hails pause in trade war with China

After launching a trade war with China, Donald Trump now declaring a deal’s at hand for a one-year truce. With nothing yet signed, we’ll ask about the South Korea sit-down between the U-S president and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, promises of reduced tariffs and computer chip exports by the U-S, the easing of restrictions on rare earth minerals and a return to soybean imports by Beijing, also the choreography of a shorter-than-expected hour-and-40 minute meeting in South Korea followed by Trump’s decision to skip the regional APEC summit that followed. The U-S president to instead return to the White House for a Halloween trick or treating ceremony.More broadly, will the United States remain committed to Asian allies, what with its troops permanently stationed in Japan and South Korea and its historic support for Taiwan and the Philippines? And is that compatible with hard-to-read great power bargaining?