The world’s leading superpowers are locking horns. Over the past 16 months America and China have been trading blows through tariffs on goods. The impact is being felt on industries worldwide. China’s economic rise has been dramatic. In 1978 China’s GDP at market prices was just 6% of America’s. Last year it had grown to 66%. When considering local spending power China has already overtaken America. This unprecedented growth began with President Deng Xiaoping. He started opening up China’s economy to the world in 1978 and the country quickly became “the world’s factory”. Over the next decade, exports as a share of GDP tripled and by 1988 15% of China’s exports went to America. The World Trade Organization opened its doors to China in 2001. After joining the WTO, China soon became an economic superpower. But people had expected the country to also become more like a Western capitalist economy. That didn’t happen, and many now claim that China achieved its growth by engaging in unfair trade practices, theft and trade barriers. It is well known that Chinese companies and government routinely infringe American intellectual property rights.