US-China Trade War: Femme Fatale Battle Royale

Last week, it was Trevor v. Trump. Yes, a South African living and working in America for a prominent comedy news show called out the President of the United States for his nonsensical trade policies, which now apparently includes for no obvious reason whatsoever brewing little mini-trade wars with Mexico and India.

A few days ago, it was time for the ladies to slug it out in the at-times confusing rhetoric around the TradeWar. Trish Regan of Fox News battled Liu Xin of CGTN, the English-language news arm of China's state media.

I'm not gonna pick sides here but, to me, it was very strange to see women talking over each other and selectively ignoring specific questions like a grandstanding local politician typically does after a few too many beers at lunch.

From my perspective, this kind of spectacle serves neither side very well. The United States has an inverted yield curve, which means that it is cheaper to borrow money for 10 years than it is to borrow it for 3 months. Yes, you read that right. It makes absolutely no sense. That's why it's a huge problem.

Historically, this negative spread between the 10-year and 3-month Treasuries is a pretty reliable indicator of an incoming recession. Check it out:

We're in this spot primarily because the leaders on both sides of the Pacific are unable to negotiate an amicable solution to the largest and most important trade relationship in the entire world.

It is in the best interest of both sides of this debate to get something done. And fast.

But all we have is some useless TV news anchors duking it out.

Can't we all just get along?

Apparently not.

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