The ongoing trade war between the US and China has been something of a long-distance series of bombshells and responding salvos in policy and rhetoric, but lately has been ratcheted up several degrees of intensity.

In the past week alone, there have some extraordinary new developments - the daily news cycle on trade has now ramped up its pace and volitility - in response, the Political Economy team at the South China Morning Post has decided to launch a weekly digest of what we’ve reported,…