“Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? Which of the two generals has most ability?” – The Art of WarA gaggle of economists and policy wonks gathered around the bargaining table haggling over trade terms doesn’t make for the greatest TV. And for the reality TV-star president and his Mao-acolyte rival, two mega-personalities accustomed to leveraging their public perception as a way of attaining and maintaining power, such closed-door diplomacy is even less glamorous still. It’s no surprise, then, that oft-private trade negotiations have taken a public-facing persona with Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump. The result is a trade “war” that resembles a battle of wills more than an economic policy dispute, a one-on-one between Trump and Xi played out in the court of public opinion. This dynamic complicates...