All warfare is based on deception. So wrote the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu in his fabled treatise, The Art of War, in the 6th century BC. Nearly 2,500 years on, the psychology and tactics that Sun Tzu codified have become staples of Western business and sports-management training.

But it would appear that Donald Trump has little time for the tactical subtleties of fighting to win the trade war he has started, in the manner of Chinese military leaders of the Han Dynasty.