BEIJING—When U.S. President-elect Donald Trump picked China critic Robert Lighthizer early this month as his chief trade negotiator, the Chinese Commerce Ministry called a senior economist at a government think tank and assigned him a task: To lead a study on the impact of a trade war. A few days later, China’s embassy in Washington contacted the State Department to ask if Mr. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson,...

Source: Wall Street Journal January 16, 2017 18:37 UTC