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US-China trade war dominates SCMP’s top 10 economy stories of 2018

  • Re-live the top 10 economy stories of 2018, which were dominated by the ongoing trade war between Xi Jinping’s China and Donald Trump’s United States.

Reading Time:2 minutes
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a working dinner after the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 1. Photo: Reuters

It is safe to say that 2018 was the year of the trade war, with stories about the United States and China dispute proving a huge draw for readers of the South China Morning Post's Economy section.

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From the opening gambits of US President Donald Trump's tariffs in July, to a relative ceasefire in Buenos Aires in December, the soap opera has threatened to destabilise the global economy, but has also made for riveting reading.

With top level negotiations planned in January and further tariffs on Chinese goods set to come into force in March if no deal is reached after the 90-day truce, we expect this story to roll well into 2019.

In fact, we may just be getting started.

But for now, we review the most read stories from 2018.

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Fresh ideas about how to fight the trade war with the US have begun to fly in China after Beijing was unable to respond in full to the latest escalation in the dispute because it is rapidly running out of room to use tariffs as a weapon. Photo: AP
Fresh ideas about how to fight the trade war with the US have begun to fly in China after Beijing was unable to respond in full to the latest escalation in the dispute because it is rapidly running out of room to use tariffs as a weapon. Photo: AP

10. China’s running out of US goods to tax, so what other ways can it hit back in the trade war?

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