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Opinion | In picking a trade war with China, Donald Trump may find time is not on his side
Beijing’s swift response to Liberation Day tariffs signals it is ready for a long fight, while the US president needs a quick win
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Speed is the essence of warfare and the global trade war launched by US President Donald Trump is no exception.
Trump’s Liberation Day of reciprocal tariffs was historic. No major economy in modern history has tried such a daring move. But despite the name, the US tariffs offer no liberation and are not reciprocal. However, they should not have come as a surprise.
Most politicians are condemned for not fulfilling their election promises, but Trump has got it the other way around – explicitly telling the world during his presidential election campaign that he would do this.
For example, Trump said during the campaign that tariffs on China would be around 60 per cent. And yet, the 54 per cent new tariffs he imposed during his second term caught financial markets off guard because they did not believe the president would have the audacity to follow through.
From Trump’s perspective, these actions are necessary to pull the US back from the precipice of decline.
National debt has surged to US$36.22 trillion, with interest payments projected to exceed US$952 billion in 2025 and to possibly reach US$1 trillion the following year. Without intervention, this could lead to US$13.8 trillion in net interest payments over a decade – equivalent to the combined economies of Germany, Japan, India and Britain.
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