Bessent’s China Talks Point to a Familiar Pattern: Supply Lines

For a time during US President Donald Trump’s first-term talks with China one of his pre-eminent hawks, trade czar Robert Lighthizer, took to bringing a prop into Oval Office meetings.

The longtime China skeptic would place a telegraph key on Trump’s desk and tap it occasionally to reinforce his view that “China was ‘tapping’ us along. They wanted to delay the tariffs and engage in inconsequential talks for months,” as Lighthizer recounted in his 2023 book.

With talks continuing on Monday in Madrid between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, it’s tempting to wonder if Lighthizer is ...