Summary
Trump escalated his trade war with China by raising tariffs to 125%, even as he dropped tariffs on other nations to ease recession fears.
China retaliated with 84% tariffs on U.S. goods, triggering a high-stakes standoff with both sides refusing to back down.
Experts warn the escalating tit-for-tat threatens global markets and diplomacy. Trump’s team calls China a “bad actor,” while Beijing frames the U.S. as a bully.
Each side believes time favors them, making de-escalation unlikely. Business leaders urge talks, but neither leader wants to appear weak.
I think the title is simply incorrect. This isn’t a game of chicken. In reality the Chinese government was ready for Trump’s tariffs because he played the tariff card the last time he was in office. They have a lot of strong tools at their disposal, and they will use those as they need to.
It’s somewhat ridiculous for Americans to say that China needs to make a deal when Trump is the one who created the recent problem. If you want to talk about trade imbalances, we can talk about trade imbalances, but massive tariffs that escalate overnight have nothing to do with reasonable international negotiation.
Actually the article has good information in it, but the title itself is meh.
This is why you don’t elect a FUCKING REALITY SHOW ACTOR AS PRESIDENT.
Butt… butt… me egg prices.
our elections are a sham and there are a lot of disenfranchised voters that not allowed to vote here and the candidate that wins is always preselected
voters here take all the blame for the actions of our sold-out elections
Are you using the US or China as your “here?” Because I don’t think it’s quite that bad in the US, but I don’t think anyone blames the voters in China.
Business leaders urge talks, but neither leader wants to appear weak.
Trump already backtracked on tariffs for most of the world and the timing makes it look like the severity of China’s retaliation is the reason. He already looks weak.
Many analysts think that the bond selling is what scared the Trump government, as they have said that they want to rebalance the economy, but not loose the $ hegemony. The Chinese hold a lot of bpnds, but haven’t threatened to sell th yet - the Japanese sold US bonds.
The Chinese and the Americans need each other. The Americans can’t afford to make things, and the Chinese need the American market to buy things, as they make too many things. The Chinese can’t afford to have the US market disappear yet.
Trump looks weak by every act he does, from smearing on his orange clown makeup in the morning to vomiting out thin-skinned unhinged screeds over Xitter at night, and every insecure bullying coward act in between. He’s the weakest president the US has ever had, by a mile.
He will backtrack when new inflation figures hit. It might take 3-6 months, but China definitely has the stronger hand, by far.
Trump can avoid the inflation by allowing Chinese goods to come through countries like Vietnam or Mexico. This is basically the status quo.
It allows Trump to save face without huge inflation for US consumers.
We pay tarrif based on country of manufacture not where it ships from. Trust me I’m looking everywhere for loopholes right now.
Correct, so what China does is ship almost completed stuff to Vietnam, they do the final piece of manufacturing and export that.
It’s not as easy as a transshipment, but for the longer term it works out.
This is awful for the global economy and it’s definitely looking more and more like these tariff tantrums from the US is just a dying empire desperately trying to fight against its eventual demise. China has already overtaken the US in many areas and it is really showing.
And China will not blink first, because at the end of the day it’s running a command economy. This is like having a stare down with a bullet train while standing on the tracks.
He picked a fight that he must lose.
China can pursue trade deals elsewhere, especially since the US is leaving a trade void by being so unreliable. Nobody trusts the US, nor should they considering they started it. It’s pretty clear who’s at a bigger disadvantage.
China won’t flinch, they’re already working with the EU to bring down tariffs on EVs, and for the first time ever, with Japan and South Korea for trade stuff. The EV tariff setup was a deal we (the US) brokered with the EU originally to starve China out of the market so they didn’t become a dominant force in transportation. Now China will be the dominant force on Earth while the US becomes an underfunded backwater country with last-place in everything. Chinese products are already predominant in most countries on the entire planet.
We handed them the solution to the problem they dug themselves into while we starve ourselves out.
It’s pretty obvious who will win. One is ruled by a dictator. The other by someone who wishes he was a dictator.
The last one was just a grifter move to funnel more cash to his billionaire buddies.
This time, it’s more strategic — the goal is to weaken China. The alliance between Russia, Iran, and China is built on a shared opposition to the U.S. and Western democracy. But Trump’s return throws a wrench into that dynamic.
Putin sees an opportunity: Isolate and economically hurt China, and improve Russias own leverage on the global stage — all while using Trump as a tool once again.
Putin is operating like it is last century. Trump is operating like it is two centuries ago.
Russia has no cards to play against China unfortunately. Putin can’t even move his Far East troops out of Vladivostok for fear of China and a two-front war.
But who will fart first?
I don’t feel good about the group of amateurs trump has surround himself with. They will be eaten alive by anyone with actual economic and trade strategies
Like Mark Carney, current Prime Minister of Canada ;)
Yes. Someone like him would be great
If its just china im actually pretty fine with the tarrifs. I hope the lesson for businesses is to diversify the supply chain as much as possible because lets face it trump is not the only incarnation of crazy we have seen in the world lately.
