Last Friday, when the word was wondering why China "responded" with just $3 billion in US tariffs to the proposed 60 billion in "Section 301" duties to be levied by the Trump administration on China, it was Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of China's state-owned nationalist tack-on of the People's Daily, Global Times, who explained that the $3 billion in tariffs targeting 128, mostly agricultural products, was in response for the formerly revealed "Section 232" steel and aluminum tariffs which, while exempting much of the world, clearly had China in their crosshairs.

So is this return of last week's angry tone out of China an indication that yesterday's "trade war truce" rally was built on quicksand, and that once the US reveals the details of its second round in Chinese tariffs, Beijing will respond immediately. Or is this just the editor of China's main US-facing propaganda outlet seeking to drum up page views and clicks?