As Trump’s first term ends, what has his trade war with China achieved?

As the curtain falls on the first Trump presidency, it is timely to reflect on what has been achieved – or not. And nothing could be more at the heart of US President Donald Trump’s mission to “Make America great again” than an audit of his trade war on China.

It is more than two years since his crassest, most significant and most costly claim: “Trade wars are good, and easy to win.” The shocking naivety of that statement still makes me shudder. But having declared war, he has fought it, and continues to fight it, unflinching in his conviction that one way or another he will eventually succeed, and that the United States will have been made stronger in the process.

Whether Trump wins another term in office or not, he can take comfort that his good fight will continue. His opponent in the presidential election, former US vice-president Joe Biden, has given every indication that Trump’s trade war on China will rage on.

But how well served have the US economy, American companies and workers been by the tariff wars, and unprecedented efforts to roll back seven decades of globalisation and trade liberalisation?