News Analysis China’s trade patterns seem set to shift in the next few years. The United States and the Europe Union have made agreements that will surely advance their decoupling from China. Meanwhile, agreements in Asia seem ready to increase trade flows between South Korea, Japan, and China and do so substantively, if not immediately. None of this will bring about a change in direction, but it will create a significant point of inflection. The United States and the EU recently finalized an agreement that goes beyond decoupling into the realm of outright belligerence toward China. U.S. President Joe Biden has lifted the tariffs on steel and aluminum that former President Donald Trump imposed on the EU, while both sides have joined in the creation of what their press release describes as “a global arrangement on sustainable steel and aluminum […] among like-minded nations.” In diplomatic language, that aims squarely …