Plunging trade across the Pacific is leading to production halts and threatening job instability for millions of Chinese.

The view that the Chinese leadership was desperate to negotiate a trade deal, to avoid economic pain that could destabilize Chinese society and threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on power, is common among China hawks in the United States. This analysis is partly accurate, but it has led many to draw false conclusions.

Marvel's Thunderbolts* is set to test China's appetite for Hollywood as the first US film to hit Chinese theaters since the new trade war escalations.