President Trump's escalating tariff fight against China has rattled the global economy and has raised doubts about how the standoffs will end.
This week, Trump announced a 90-day suspension on his drastic tariffs on dozens of countries, but he has raised China's import taxes in a staggering way to 145%. China fought back on Friday by raising its own tariffs to 125%, raising interests as hiking became a global market.
Trump He insisted on China “I want to make a deal,” but Beijing leaders concluded their latest hike, warning that the fight will become a “joke in world economic history,” but they don't know that they “don't know how to put it.”
As for the president's potential economic impact of tariffs alleviating trade deficits and escalating trade wars, the tensions between global superpowers raises questions about the potential economic impact of Trump's endgame and the escalating trade wars. Brings manufacturing I'm back to the US
“What is the endgame here? Are we really going to re-shoot China-based manufacturing to the re-shore? And where are we going to see businesses fleeing China if we are attacking every country on Earth with additional tariffs?” Mark Bush, professor of international business diplomacy at Georgetown University, said Hill is also a contributor to his opinion. “They haven't returned to the US, so what is Endgame here?”
Trump announced the latest tariff hike in China on Wednesday, increasing it after slapping the country at a 104% rate that day. White House officials said Thursday that China was 145%.
At the same time, Trump has given all other trading partners a 90-day rescheduled from the “liberation day” tariffs. That lack of respect in China It is shown in global markets. ”
“They've ripped us apart, and I can't believe people were sitting in my position… But they did it, and all we do is put it back in. We're resetting the table.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) was one of Capitol Hill's figures who expressed uncertainty about Trump's strategy this week, saying on Wednesday, “I don't know if Endgame is still here.”
In response to Trump, China's Treasury Department said Thursday that the United States “has been seriously violated by international economic and trade rules, violated basic economic law and common sense, ignoring the post-World War II world economic order built by the United States itself.” Follow the translated statement.
Beijing then said on Friday it would bring up to 125% tariffs on US goods and would stop participating in the tariff hikes before and after.
“If the US continues to play the tariff number game, China will ignore it,” said the Chinese official. Written in the releaseaccording to the translation.
Wendong Chang, an economist at Cornell University and a faculty member at Cornell's China Centre for Economic Studies, predicts that the US-China standoffs are “highly likely to last for a while.”
That's because there are “many points of attachment” in the “greater” relationship between the two global forces, Zhang told Hill in an email that includes China's industrial policy. Ownership of farmland In the US, the recent movements from the Chinese military amid tensions over Taiwan.
Both countries have recently blacklisted each other's companies, and tariff SPAT has added drama to potential deals on Tiktok, a mega-popular app owned by China-based parent company Bytedance. The administration also vowed to reclaim the Panama Canal from “Chinese influence” and urged Beijing to accuse the United States of “blackmail.”
At the same time, the US and China remain major trading partners. The two countries traded an estimated $582.4 billion in 2024. According to the data From the office of US Trade Representatives. The trade deficit with China was $295.4 billion, up 5.8% from the previous year.
“China recognizes that high retaliation tariffs will effectively halt trade, but it feels like it has an obligation to respond politically,” Chang said.
The White House has said that “the phone is ringing” from countries eager to conduct trade deals with the US to avoid tariffs, and Trump has insisted that China wants to do business but doesn't know where to start.
However, White House spokesman Caroline Levitt asked on Friday whether Trump was waiting for XI to make his first move.
“[Trump] If China is going to do business with the US, it's elegant. If China continues to retaliate, it is not good for China… The president wants to do the right thing for Americans. He wants to see fair trade practices around the world. “I am not going to comment on communications that are happening or may be happening.”
Leavitt confirmed Trump was “optimistic” about the deal.
Chan suggested that Trump could meet XI and wait until he announced that he had “personally spread the situation.”
Trump says he has “a very good personal relationship” with the Chinese president who visited Trump's Mar Lago resort in Florida during his first term.
Both world leaders are likely hoping to come out of this “look tough,” said Bush, who previously served as an advisor to the technology trade barriers for the US Department of Commerce and US trade representatives.
“In terms of economics, I don't think there's a real calibration of the model here. My sense is, on the political side, what other countries are making with this demonstration effect,” Bush said.
“You escalate with China as a way to show that you're serious about your ability to play tough with China and ratchet about not negotiating. But on the other hand, the US understands that China is tough no matter what, so how is this an example?”
The president may be viewing some of his moves improvising, but his ultimate goal is likely to be a gradual trade deal with China, and experts continue his first term of service. Trump signed his first “Phase 1” trade deal with China in 2020, pledging to increase US purchases from Beijing, but did not remove that tariff. The second phase of the deal did not come true before Trump resigned as the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic derailed relations between the global economy and the United States.
And while some thought they could pull out standoffs, former Commerce Department officials expressed the view that they may be focusing on short-term revisions to the ongoing trade war, aiming to make Trump and Xi's nearest people look weak.
“While there is a substantial risk of a global economic meltdown caused by fears of both leaders about looking weak at home, there is a great possibility of a short-term “big, beautiful deal” and medium-term acceleration of de-globalization,” the official said.
Trump's decision to betray other tariffs indicates that the president's approach to trade policy could cause DIME as new influences emerge.
In the meantime, tariffs have created a “loss” situation for both economies, Chan said.
“At best, it shows a willingness to investigate the contours of decoupling. At worst, it's just economic suicide,” Bush said. “I don't know which side can really do this for longer… this is not good for either side. I hope both sides blink.”
Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.
