A core demand of the US in its trade confrontation with Beijing involves the value of China’s currency, the renminbi. The Chinese yuan (as the individual currency units are called) has long been artificially undervalued, at least according to many of China’s critics, creating an unfair advantage for China’s exports.

It’s an old story, and an old complaint. Now, however, comes a new irony: the Trump administration’s blitz of trade and investment penalties against China has generated substantial concern over the future health of China’s economy, thus further driving down the yuan. In short, market forces instigated by US policies are pushing the renminbi even further from where the US wants it to go.