Donald Trump is pulling his nation’s closest neighbors into the center of his trade war with China as he seeks to elbow the Asian giant out of a region the US has long considered its own backyard.The president last week dispatched Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Panama as part of his ongoing effort to reassert American dominance over the isthmus nation’s prized canal.

By Ethan Wang, Laurie Chen and Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) -China on Wednesday unexpectedly appointed a new trade negotiator key in any talks to resolve the escalating tariff war with the United States,