Kevin Rudd writes: While we won’t have any real indication as to the tenor of the Chinese discussions or their conclusions for awhile yet, it’s worth thinking through where this trade war could take us all in the absence of effective diplomatic intervention. History tells us trade wars are easy to start and hard to stop, just like real ones. There’s a reason for that. The material stakes become greater as hostilities continue. And the domestic political cost of backing down gets higher and higher. - Bloomberg