“Plan Red” Author Gordon Chang says Chinese President Xi Jinping cannot afford to lose a trade war while his economy is in a deflationary spiral. “The issue though, John, is the political system in China. Xi Jinping has configured it so only the most hostile answers and considered to be acceptable,” Chang explains. “So he can’t make an overture to the United States, which would be the rational thing for him to do, because he cannot appear weak.”