The US-China trade war has been simmering for most of the year, but this week marks the point at which the finger-pointing boiled over and did something rare in high-stakes diplomacy: It got very personal.
With the world’s finance chiefs gathered in Washington at the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lashed out at a top Chinese trade official, saying he turned up in Washington recently in an “unhinged” fashion typical of Beijing’s so-called wolf warrior diplomats.