The fact that we have an unfair trade agreement with China now, in no way means that a trade war will necessarily be to our benefit. I imagine it’s going to damage our economy quite a bit, and do the same for China.

You mention that inaction would be “pathetic” which may be the case. And if we want to do something about it, we can, but it doesn’t mean the US or the world will better off for doing so.

Just look at Iraq. For sure, there was a horrible dictator there who committed genocide and other terrible things. So the US acted. Was it a success? Was it the best possible use of those trillions of dollars? Who knows, but I suspect not.

Just because there is a wrong in the world doesn’t mean that we definitely have the means to fix it.

And this won't fix anything. The rest of the world will happily keep doing business with China. The US is just salty. Instead of adapting to new circumstances they cling to US hegemony. Orange man yelling at clouds.

China has completely swallowed the WTO. Letting it in was one of the biggest mistakes in history, it has completely gamed the system. The goodwill and ethics have been swamped. China makes frivolous litigation to slow down the entire process and has spent years and billions learning how to completely game it. Even when the WTO rules against China, it is many years after the fact and the competition is already dead and China has taken over the market share.

Would you even want to want to buy property in what you describe as an authoritarian, borderline totalitarian country?

The Chinese don't want their property to be subject to whims of party officials, so they invest elsewhere. This is a net positive for Americans (increasing real estate prices mean increasing total wealth), and also a creeping long-term negative for China which they can't easily fix without relinquishing control. Rather than trying to force the issue, USA should continue to take the high road and let the Communist Party slowly boil. It may take a long time, but the Chinese will eventually want their political freedom because they don't have real economic freedom without it.

Uh, not so much. Being priced out of home ownership means a smaller and smaller portion of Americans would (do) benefit from this increased "total wealth".

It’s a net positive if it was a 2 way street. Currently, I’m competing with the entire world to purchase a house in the Valley. Chinese investment is in SV, LA, NYC, Vancouver, Toronto, NZ, Sydney and Melbourne. All areas where locals are priced out, income inequality is rampant, and only those who sell are realizing actual wealth. Salaries in those areas are higher solely for housing prices. That means our companies losing out on billions due to foreign unfair investment.

Chinese aren’t moving to these areas in many cases. They are just investing and parking their money, some of it through illicit means. In Canada, the majority of Chinese RE investment is through the drug trade. They are legitimizing this.

In NZ xenophobia has increased significantly so much that they are planning to block all foreign investments period. That doesn’t seem to be a net positive to me. Australia has jacked up foreign investment taxes twice and Canada 3 times in just 2 years. The latter are also turning more xenophobic and honestly I don’t blame them.