Is Trump's trade probe on China smart?

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At a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear ambitions, US President Donald Trump signed the memo ordering probes of China's intellectual property practices. In response, China stated that it would take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights.

Why is Trump administration seeking to make this investigation on China's trade at this time?

"It comes at the time when the Trump’s administration is under tremendous pressure on all sides, domestically and internationally," the founder and managing director of Red Pagoda Resources, Andy Mok said. He explained that the crisis of the DPRK and the investigation Trump is facing are the big challenges for him.

"It's really a difficult time and also a sensitive time for US-China trade relations," Mok said.

Talking about Trump's trade probe on China, Charles Liu, founder of HAO Capital, said, "It's totally against international rules and regulations."

"I think the situation here is (Trump) needs to throw some bones to his base because he made so many promises during the campaign, but he is not delivering any office promises. In terms of China-US trade, the supply chain and value chains in these two economies are so integrated, he cannot do anything without having someone being hurt in the US, not just in China."

Many analysts believe the action is political but that both sides will take the risk of the potential trade war.

In the view of Anjie Law Firm's senior consultant, Xi Gelian, Trump is making this situation very complicated.

"It is very easy to make an accusation, but it may not be very easy to find the evidence and facts. We never see China's IPR protection system is perfect, there are still lots of defects, but it hard to say these rules actually force US companies to transfer technology."