Defiant China draws spotlight away from Trump's progress in trade talks

Amid an escalating trade skirmish with China, investors and business owners are becoming increasingly confident that separate commerce disputes with top U.S. allies will be resolved.

The Chinese government on Wednesday announced it would add a retaliatory 25 percent tariff on $16 billion in U.S. goods after the Trump administration promised the day before to impose identical levies on Beijing. The action was the latest in an escalating, tit-for-tat battle that experts say is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, though the White House has made progress on other fronts in Trump’s trade war.