I have a suggestion for everyone who writes about international
trade: it is time to bury, once and for all, the concept of a
“trade war.” The phrase is so ubiquitous that it will be awfully
hard to abolish; I have probably been guilty of this myself from
time to time. Indeed, it is almost a reflex that every time the
United States or some other nation takes any action that
restricts imports in any fashion, reporters and editorial
writers jump to their keyboards to warn that a trade war is
looming. But it is a canard that makes it far harder to have a
sensible discussion about U.S. trade policy. No sooner had
President Obama and Mitt Romney finished their latest round of
“who’s tougher on trade with China?” in their final debate than
the New York Times – to take one of many possible examples –
warned that “formally citing Beijing as a currency manipulator
may backfire, economic and foreign-policy experts have said. In
the worst case, it could set off a trade war, leading to falling
American exports to China a