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An American flag next to the Chinese national emblem during a welcome ceremony for visiting U.S. President Donald Trump outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017.Photo: AP

Give a trade war a chance, I say, paraphrasing John Lennon.

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We are hurtling towards one, especially if you consider the grievances of some American technology companies concerning the lack of a fair playing field, and the accusation that intellectual property theft is prevalent in China. Look at the backdrop that Donald Trump is building, and it couldn’t come sooner because China and the US need to settle their grievances.

The Obama administration allowed China to roll forward on trade. It may have advanced China, but it has also created resentment among some circles in Washington that will lead to a backlash - especially under a new president with a tendency to take unilateral actions. The hazardous outcome is that the Chinese government may be unable to deliver on America’s demands on trade, however unreasonable they may be.

I predicted in my April 2017 column that the US government would probably reject Ant Financial‘s acquisition of MoneyGram because of national security concerns. Even then, my Washington sources told me that the scorn against the lack of quid pro quo for American tech companies in China had passed the point of no return.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) rejected Ant’s extensive promises to mitigate concerns over the protection of domestic US data. Simply put, no one trusts Chinese companies any more in the US. It is becoming more difficult for them to buy foreign companies because counterparties distrust their ability to close transactions.

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The MoneyGram rejection sets a standard for what the US government will tolerate. Artificial intelligence and machine language deals will probably be heavily scrutinised in the future, which will impact China’s desire to lead in these fields.

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