Analyst: The U.S. Trade War with China Has Reached a Dangerous New Phase

Not so long ago, U.S. leaders predicted that economic development and the birth of a middle class in China would inevitably move that nation toward democracy. Instead, China's leadership has profited from a weaker West. It has seized on opportunities created by European fragmentation and political dysfunction in Washington to offer China as an alternative model of stability and development.

Another mistake by the U.S.: lawmakers doubted that China would ever become technologically innovative.