Reversing a trade deficit with China is no simple matter – just ask Queen Victoria

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Open this photo in gallery: At the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in Ningbo, in China's eastern Zhejiang Province, trucks move containers from place to place.HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images Geoff Read is an associate professor of history at Western University. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a 90-day suspension on plans to place 145-per-cent tariffs on Chinese goods coming into America. Refusing to back down completely, however, Mr. Trump left in place a new 30-per-cent tariff on products from China entering the United States. Mr. Trump favours tariffs for two reasons. First, he sees trade deficits as proof that countries are...