The world’s two largest economies have been locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since Trump launched a global tariff assault that particularly targeted Chinese imports.
Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent band on US imports.
The US side had appeared to dial down the pressure slightly on Friday, listing tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronic products for which China is a major source.
Trump and some of his top aides said Sunday that the exemptions had been misconstrued and would only be temporary as his team pursued fresh tariffs against many items on the list.
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’… especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
Earlier, Beijing’s Commerce Ministry had said Friday’s move only “represents a small step” and insisted that the Trump administration should “completely cancel” the whole tariff strategy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Monday — as he kicked off a tour of Southeast Asia with a visit to manufacturing powerhouse Vietnam — that protectionism “will lead nowhere”.
Writing in an article published in a Vietnamese newspaper, Xi urged the two countries to “resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment.”
He also reiterated Beijing’s line that a “trade war and tariff war will produce no winner.”
Asian stock markets rose Monday after Trump’s announcement of the tariff exemptions.
Short-lived relief?
Washington’s new exemptions will benefit US tech companies such as Nvidia and Dell as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.