Mark Gongloff
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to dinethis weekend at the G-20 summit in Argentina, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said today. For all the many photo ops the G-20 will generate, this meal will be the summit’s only truly meaningful moment, writes Mohamed El-Erian. Trump and Xi have a chance to finally end the trade hostilities that have upset economies, corporate profits and financial markets all year. But to do so, both men will have to give something up, Mohamed writes. Xi, for example, will have to stop worrying about how a deal might hurt him domestically, while Trump will have one less controversy to rile up his base.
Trump’s base has been pretty durably behind him so far, but Xi has been fortifying his own core support in the form of roughly 400 million working-class Chinese, notes Shuli Ren. Xi has showered workers with handouts and favorable policies, and he’s gotten a lot of love in return. This could cut both ways: It could make Xi feel safer compromising with Trump, but it could also make him feel he can withstand the economic fallout from a full-on trade war.
Like you do before any important dinner date, Trump has been buttering up Xi by threatening him. He suggested to the Wall Street Journal that he’d raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods and threatened tariffs on $267 billion more. That latter group would include the products of Apple Inc., whose stock fell today on trade-war worries. Trump blithely suggested U.S. consumers could handle the tariffs, and Shira Ovide agrees Apple might not lose many sales due to slightly higher prices on already expensive phones. Still, with the global economy and iPhone sales slowing down, Shira writes, not even mighty Apple can ignore the impact. That dinner had better go well.
Make Way For the Homo Superior
A while back, NASA declared the 1997 film “Gattaca” — about a future society in which the genetically superior (represented here by Uma Thurman) lord it over the genetically inferior (Ethan Hawke) — as the most realistic science fiction film of all time. Sure enough, a Chinese scientist this weekend claimed to have successfully tweaked DNA to make a baby HIV-resistant, inspiring much agita about a slippery slope to a dystopia run by superbabies. Noah Feldman suggests these initial qualms will pass. Realistically, gene-editing technology may never be sophisticated enough to let us make people taller, smarter or better-looking. But if it can safely prevent diseases and alleviate human suffering, then we should be all for it, Noah writes.
At the very least, the U.S. needs to lead this research, to better ensure this technology will be used responsibly, writes Noah Smith. Otherwise, “Gattaca”-like dystopias become more likely. There’s also, not to be too crass about it, all the money the U.S. would leave on the table if it just let other countries dominate this field, Noah notes.
Anyway, random chance has already made HIV-resistant babies, through a mutation that happened naturally in the past few millennia, Faye Flamwrites. The Chinese experiment (if it really worked) just replicated that mutation. Faye also notes the tweak has negative side effects, too. Genetically engineered Uma Thurmans are still the stuff of movies.
Russian Questions, Inadequate Answers
Trump is a little distracted these days, but he still should have responded more forcefully to Russia’s attack on Ukrainian boats in the Black Sea this weekend, writes Eli Lake. Sure, Vladimir Putin probably just wants to distract from his many domestic problems. But merely ignoring his aggression will only invite more, Eli writes.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is right to oppose the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline being built from Russia to Germany; it will only strengthen Russian influence and sow European division, Bloomberg’s editors write. But it would be wrong to punish European companies to stop it. Persuasion is a better approach, the editorial board writes.
Further Russia reading: Russia needs an opposition leader with a clear vision of what a post-Putin Russia should look like. Depressingly, no such leader exists right now, and the country seems fine with that. – Leonid Bershidsky
Trump Invites the Wrath of Seniors
As part of its effort to curb prescription-drug costs, the Trump administration yesterday proposed letting Medicare Part D plans negotiate prices on a bunch more drugs than they already do. This sounds reasonable, but there’s a catch, notes Max Nisen: This would also mean occasionally restricting access to some drugs. This is how other forms of insurance typically work, but seniors have grown accustomed to Medicare Part D making a wide range of drugs available, and they will howl if they lose that access, Max notes. That could be a big hurdle to this effort to cut drug prices.
Further drug-price reading: Once upon a time, drugmakers tried to cure diseases. Now Wall Street considers that a bad business model, as Gilead Sciences Inc. discovered with its hepatitis C cure. – Joe Nocera
TV Is Terrible Now
Hello, do you watch television? Then you may have noticed it is, increasingly, terrible. Blackouts and “tribalism” — the practice of media companies allowing access to content only on their own streaming services — are on the rise, leaving you needing a growing number of subscriptions in order to see all your favorite shows. This makes TV watching ever more annoying for viewers, and Tara Lachapelle warns it will get worse before it gets better.
Telltale Charts
Bitcoin’s slump has all the hallmarks of a real currency crisis — and it’s probably not over, writes Lionel Laurent.
Many investors catch FOMO when unicorns stay private and grow huge for long stretches before their IPO. They shouldn’t worry, writes Nir Kaissar; companies that have time to mature make better investments.
Further Reading
General Motors Co.’s downsizing is bitter but necessary medicine; Ford Motor Co. could use some of it. – Chris Bryant
United Technologies Corp.’s $100 billion breakup is long overdue. – Brooke Sutherland
While Facebook Inc. waves the white flag on fake news, political ads and other content issues, it hopes we ignore the serious antitrust concerns it raises. – Alex Webb
Being relentlessly terrible to his allies and supporters will come back to haunt Trump. – Jonathan Bernstein
Sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly at peace, and that’s starting to pay economic and societal dividends. – Tyler Cowen
Forget Plan B for Brexit; it likely won’t pass and could put Plan A in peril. – Therese Raphael
Kudos to the CDC for catching the romaine contamination before it became widespread and anybody died. – Faye Flam
Foreign-affairs hypocrisy is a U.S. tradition. Trump ditching it may be a bad idea. – Hal Brands
ICYMI
Trump threatened to end GM’s electric-car subsidies. Facebook Inc. has a “black people problem,” according to an ex-employee. Fortnite addiction is putting kids in video-game rehab.
Kickers
China’s facial-recognition public-shaming campaign still has some kinks.
It turns out the Siberian unicorn and humans existed at the same time.
The luxury candle market is booming. (h/t for the first three kickers to Scott Duke Kominers)
New thing to worry about: giant viruses in forest floors.
The insect apocalypse is here.
How to balance full-time work with creative projects.
Here are NPR’s best books of 2018.
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