China’s property woes worsen while Trump tightens trade screws

TOKYO — Xi Jinping’s inner circle in Beijing has had a busy couple of months popping the champagne corks. Along with China growing 5%-plus as the US economy hits a rough patch, President Xi’s team just scored yet another extension on trade talks from Donald Trump.

That means another 90 days of stringing along a US leader who’s increasingly anxious for a deal, any deal at all, with Asia’s biggest economy.

Only a “grand bargain” with Xi’s Communist Party could give Trump scope to convince his supporters that the tariff-driven inflation, market chaos and extreme uncertainty his tariffs have unleashed are all worth it.

Xi knows this desperation will likely enable China to give Trump World very little in the end — just like Japan.