"This is going to be very contentious and no one really knows how it is all going to shake out."

In addition to the economic, diplomatic, and military provocations of China — not to mention Donald Trump accusing China of election interference — the Trump Regime is reportedly preparing a whole raft of additional regulations to undercut the Chinese economy.

Erin Banco at the Daily Beast reports:

The Department of Treasury and Commerce are knee-deep in crafting new regulations that will implement restrictions against China meant to limit its ability to access U.S. technology, data, and infrastructure, current and former officials told The Daily Beast. The regulations will also propel a plan that gives the government the jurisdiction to review Chinese investment into American companies that deal with or manufacture that technology.

The restrictions were included in two pieces of legislation under the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, a series of laws that outlines the budget and expenditures for the Department of Defense, which [Donald] Trump signed in August. The government has 18 months to fully implement the new legislation and the new regulations will move that process forward.

"This is going to be very contentious and no one really knows how it is all going to shake out," said one senior official in the department of Commerce. "We will have to wait and see what these regulations say. The new legislation will mostly likely impact many more countries but it was really crafted in order to target China."

...The new push for increased control and restriction on China accessing U.S. technology falls in line with the administration's strategy of exacting harsher measures against the country for what it says are unfair trade practices. Although China already faces complications investing in American companies and importing their goods, the new measures will make that process even more difficult. Combined with increasing tariffs, the new restrictions amount to some of the most significant steps the U.S. has taken to implement its "America first" strategy, current and former U.S. officials told The Daily Beast.

"We have the greatest technology in the world. People copy it. And they steal it, but we have the great scientists, we have the great brains, and we have to protect that and were going to protect it and that's what we're doing," [Donald] Trump said in a meeting with Republican lawmakers in June. "We have a lot of things we can do it through and were working that out."

One of the aims of the proposal is to harm China; the other is to protect the United States — specifically around automation. But not to prevent the expansion of automation which harms U.S. workers, of course. Quite the contrary: "One of the primary motivations behind the legislation was the need to address concerns regarding the release of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, automated machines, and robotics to countries of concern, especially China, current and former officials told The Daily Beast. The U.S. government views these technologies and infrastructure as critical to the national security of the U.S., they said."

The exact details of the proposal are not yet known, but U.S.-based businesses are concerned that it will hurt their exports. Naturally, Trump is unlikely to care any more than he has when his other economic schemes have harmed U.S. businesses, farmers, workers, consumers, etc.

Malice is the agenda. And Trump doesn't care who gets hurt as he continues to pick a fight, which we probably can't win, with China.