Trump’s back, but China must not go back to tit-for-tat tariffs, noted observer warns

Word of caution from eminent Beijing-based academic comes as US president-elect Donald Trump picks string of China hawks for new cabinet

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and then US president Donald Trump in Beijing in 2017. Tariff hikes may be part of Trump’s aims to strike a “grand bargain” with China in his second term. Photo: TNS

Published: 9:00pm, 14 Nov 2024Updated: 9:36pm, 14 Nov 2024

China must be careful not to engage in another round of tit-for-tat tariffs when Donald Trump returns to the White House, a highly regarded Beijing-based analyst has urged.

“We need to be very careful not to fall into the tit-for-tat trap, that vicious cycle, again,” Da Wei, director of the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, told a digital seminar on Thursday.

“It is difficult to avoid that trap, but I think we have to – we have no other choice,” Da said at the event hosted by the Centre for Globalisation Hong Kong, a think tank.

Since his re-election as US president last week, Trump has picked a string of loyalist China hawks for top jobs in his new cabinet, indicating a hardline stance beyond trade and tariffs.

During his campaign, Trump pledged to add up to 20 per cent tariffs on all imports and an additional 60 per cent on goods from China as part of his “America first” approach.

Trump’s first term saw the launch of the US-China trade war, with multiple rounds of tariff rises from both sides as the new president listed China as a primary threat to the United States.