China's President Xi Jinping (L) and US President Donald Trump attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017. AFP Contributor | AFP | Getty Images

Something funny happened on the way to the major and widespread economic pain America was supposed to suffer from because of the trade war with China. It didn't happen. Friday's jobs report made that more abundantly clear than any data we've seen since this dispute with Beijing began. The 128,000 net new jobs added last month aren't exactly a boffo number, but the total was almost 70 percent higher than expected. More importantly, the upward revisions to the August and September numbers were even more substantial.

Yes, farmers in many parts of America are still suffering and the manufacturing sector is shrinking again. But neither one of those sectors has played a major role in the overall U.S. economy for some time.

First, the American position in its trade negotiations with China is at its strongest yet. While the U.S. is still experiencing significant job growth and a stable GDP, China's GDP growth is at 27-year low… and that's based on economic reports out of Beijing that many experts say have been exaggerated for years. Yes, farmers in many parts of America are still suffering and the manufacturing sector is shrinking again. But neither one of those sectors has played a major role in the overall U.S. economy for some time, and even some of these beaten-down players are not exactly in freefall. Even Caterpillar shares opened Friday's trading 12 percent higher than a year ago, even though it has consistently been used by some pundits as the definitive example of a major American corporation most domed by the tariff war. None of this means the U.S. is "winning" the trade war with China. Free market purists who insist that no one really wins a tariff and protectionism battle remain technically correct. But it does mean that the U.S. is proving something more relevant right now than economic theory: the American economy is clearly more durable than most experts gave it credit for. Also, the more politically pragmatic policy of turning to a more varied list of trade partners will clearly not exact a widespread economic cost to this country.