As Xi Jinping, China’s vice-president, is greeted at the White House today, the relationship between Washington and Beijing over economic issues remains a manageable tiff rather than all-out conflict.

The politics of globalisation are always tricky in an election year in the US, and the escalation of rhetoric about China’s unfair trade practices got off to a strong start in Barack Obama’s bellicose State of the Union speech last month. Mr Obama promised an aggressive campaign to force Beijing to change its ways on currency manipulation, intellectual property rights and state subsidies to exporters.

Yet events are conspiring to raise yet further the frequently elevated ratio of bark to bite in US trade politics. Trade experts say that Washington often finds itself short of allies to help it put pressure on China – a limitation of which Beijing is increasingly aware.