The AP says China's trade surplus will be at an 8 month high.  But notice this throw away comment:

Some American lawmakers are calling for punitive tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing fails to act.

A narrative is a story line.  The story line for trade, among business reporters and editorial boards, is that you are either for free trade or you are a protectionist and isolationist. The "punitive tariffs" are part of that story line, even though no-one is proposing "punitive tariffs." 

Addressing currency misalignment through countervailing duties, is presumably what the reporter is talking about.  Leveling the playing field is not punitive, but neutralizing.  Punishment would go beyond the economic imbalance that currency manipulation causes. 

This is why logic is hard to get into the debate.  People react with "protectionist" and "punitive" accusations without listening... without thinking.  But while "free trade" is not popular anymore, those labels remain a good rhetorical tool for the wacko free traders.

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