“tactics without a strategy.“ Seems about right.
«a suspension of port fees on Chinese ships and the delay of U.S. export controls that would have barred more Chinese firms from accessing American technology.
…
Some experts said China inevitably had the upper hand in the trade fight because the Trump administration never had a clear objective.
“I think it’s an approach that can safely be described as tactics without a strategy,” said Jonathan Czin, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who previously analyzed Chinese politics at the C.I.A.
