Three factors behind Trump's cave on his China trade war

The Chinese have played this beautifully:

They know Trump wants Singapore to work, and that they hold the cards on North Korea.

And they know that Trump is obsessed with one number — the trade deficit.

He wants concrete things to boast about (jobs and buying American products).

No matter their promises, they can’t deliver a meaningful change in the trade deficit. But they canpromise to buy billions of politically-useful U.S. products.