Chinese and American trade negotiators concluded their two-day meeting in Stockholm without a clear path forward to avert tariffs from skyrocketing back to ultra-high levels that formed an effective blockade on trade between the world’s two largest economies.

The Treasury head said recent trade deals announced by the US — including with the European Union and Japan — created a “lot more leverage” and promised China will not get a “special deal,” despite being America’s third largest trading partner among individual nations.

Something similar is happening in America’s trade war with China. After conciliatory talks in Geneva and London, the two sides are no longer bashing each other with new tariffs. Instead, America is waging its war indirectly,