Supply Chains

Their G-20 summit has the potential to create a trade war truce that unsticks the frozen U.S.-China trade talks, but a number of pitfalls remain.

Animated by their opposing visions of economic prosperity and global influence, China and India's competition over Pakistani and Iranian ports, respectively, carry on at all costs.

A new blacklist of "unreliable" companies opens the door for more targeted retaliation against U.S. and other foreign tech suppliers.

Beijing has signaled its willingness to cut off U.S. access to some of the raw materials vital for batteries and other high-tech products.

To retaliate for White House targeting of its technology sector, Beijing could limit exports of the elements crucial to U.S. tech production. But such a move would carry a steep price.

For all it encompasses -- 16 countries, almost half the world's population and a third of its economic output -- the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership's boost to trade will remain modest as long as it sidesteps nontariff barriers.

Negotiators are putting the finishing touches on a deal that would de-escalate the trade war but leave some issues unresolved.

Companies began shifting their investments and operations from China to the nearby, lower-cost region years ago. The U.S.-China trade war is speeding up the trend.