The United States has ordered the Chinese consulate in Houston to close by Friday afternoon. This move, the Trump administration’s latest, could make it harder to repair the U.S.-China rift, writes Jessica Chen Weiss, associate professor of government, in an op-ed in the Washington Post.
“China has already vowed to retaliate,” she writes in the piece. “What does this mean for U.S.-China relations? The consulate closure is a major step that puts greater pressure on the already-tense relationship between the two countries. But this is not all about geopolitics — the escalating rift may also reflect election-year politics.”