Janet Yellen goes to China

Frequent visits to China can only mean one thing: the US Treasury is making repeated visits to America’s bank manager.

This is Yellen’s second trip to China in nine months, following a recent visit by her officials. According to the US Treasury’s press release and subsequent briefings, this is about unfair trade practices, particularly China’s subsidy of production and how manufacturing overcapacity might lead to losses of American jobs. And then there’s the obligatory stuff, such as cooperation on tackling illicit finance, drug trafficking, and fraud. And (please suppress your mirth) there’s financial stability, climate change, and debt distress in emerging nations.

But this is not what it is really about.