| Though the US has accused China of manipulating its currency, Jeffrey Sachs writes in a CNN op-ed that the "only economic manipulation here is [President] Trump's," given his aggressive tariffs and the widespread agreement that China is not, at present, manipulating the yuan. Writing at the Lowy Institute's Interpreter blog, Roland Rajah goes a step further, arguing America itself could become a currency manipulator, if Trump's logic prevails. If the US truly believes its currency accusation, Washington may naturally want to buy up yuan-backed assets, to drive up the yuan's value. At that point, "the US would instead be acting as a currency manipulator," potentially seeking a weaker dollar simply to gain trade leverage—and the "political whims of the US President would now be trying to dictate the value of the world's reserve currency." Trump faces few constraints in that department, Rajah predicts, writing that if "Trump wants a weaker dollar and shows he is prepared to act, then there will be little stopping this from becoming a reality. After all, who would want to hold the US dollar then?" New York Times columnist Tom Friedman paints a troubling picture of the standoff, with Trump and President Xi Jinping each having "overplayed" his hand. The nature of US-China trade is much deeper than it was 10 years ago—involving critical technologies and going beyond the era when "America bought T-shirts, tennis shoes and toys from China, and China bought soybeans and Boeing jetliners from America," Friedman writes—which only makes the stakes much higher, as an end to the trade war appears less likely. | 
