John Lee complains that “China showers state businesses with subsidies” and “cheap credit” and “shields them from foreign competition” (“Trump’s Trade Secret: Exploiting China’s Relative Weakness,” op-ed, Dec. 16). So what’s the big deal? There was a time when thinkers and leaders on the right mocked industrial policy, knowing that protection weakens businesses by blinding them to market realities. Now conservatives claim these policies give China an unfair economic advantage. Have the laws of economics changed, or are the Chinese somehow different?

John E. Tamny

Washington