"The U.S. is now basically in a position where we had our horse, the Chinese had their horse -- but our horse has been put out to pasture and is no longer running in the race," said Eric Altbach, vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington and former deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China affairs. "It’s a giant gift to the Chinese because they now can pitch themselves as the driver of trade liberalization." (...)