From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Ketrow F. This is the Daily.

Over the past week, President Trump avoided a trade war with Canada and Mexico, but he actively

escalated one with China. That's because when it comes to domestic manufacturing, China has become more powerful than

the United States, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and Britain combined.

Today, my colleague Keith Bradshaw explains why China's dominance as a trading partner has become such a threat to Trump's agenda and whether the United States will ever be able to catch up. It's Monday, February 10th.

Keith, I knew you were one of the OG economics reporters at the New York Times,

but in preparing for this conversation,

I learned a few amazing facts about you that I just want to share. Okay. You've covered dozens of trade

deals, including writing 150 times about the negotiation of NAFTA alone. I want to call you the

Bill Nye of trade. I don't know if they'll let me do that.

You've been reporting in China for 23 years.

You were one of the very few American journalists who stayed there through the pandemic.

And for some reason, this is your first time on the show.

So welcome, Keith.

Thank you.

And by OG, you mean old guard?

Original gangster? Okay. I don't know the term. Okay. It's an honor. It's a distinction you've earned.

I appreciate it. Okay. So where we find you now is that a trade war between the U.S. and China escalated last week, with Trump imposing

new tariffs on China. And we thought this would be a good time to really try to understand the

nature of this problem between the U.S. and China with one single number at the core.

Yes, it's a big number, and the number is nearly one trillion dollars,

and that's how big China's trade surplus was last year with the rest of the world.

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