Two-Front Trade War President Trump is likely to highlight trade in his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. He needs Congress to pass his USMCA, and he wants to persuade everyone that his trade fight with China is headed toward a good outcome. His problem is that congressional Democrats are as weary of handing him any kind of victory as are foreign trading partners. They will contend that in both cases he has failed to make significant gains. The 2020 election now being in the viewfinder, the risks to the U.S. economy and his complete ownership of adverse outcomes, evidenced by the government shutdown, mean that his nuclear threat of NAFTA withdrawal has lost its potential.   Shutdown and Who in 2020 Technically, the gov...