‘Game of strategic resolve’: can China outflank US in protracted trade war?

Escalating trade conflict is ‘strategic battle’ that could take several more months before rational negotiations can begin, experts say

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China’s government is prepared to “go the distance” and pay any price, experts said, after the stakes in a trade war were raised yet again. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 10 Apr 2025Updated: 10:32pm, 10 Apr 2025

The US-China tariff war is now a “strategic battle”, with no near-term negotiations in sight and Beijing showing no signs of backing down, according to Chinese analysts.

Washington raised tariffs on Beijing to 125 per cent on Wednesday since Donald Trump returned to the White House, despite giving other nations a 90-day reprieve following a few rounds of tit-for-tat tariff hikes between the world’s two largest economies over the past week.

After the announcement, Trump said he was open to talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, adding that he “can’t imagine” raising tariffs on China further. He earlier claimed that China would call him to “make a deal”.

On Thursday, China’s commerce and foreign ministries repeated that China was open to negotiations with the US only if they were conducted in a “fair and mutually respectful” manner. They also said they would “fight to the end” if the US wanted a trade war.

“It is no longer a game about tariffs themselves, but a game of strategic resolve,” Zhao Minghao, deputy director at the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University, in Shanghai, said in reference to the recent back-and-forth tariffs.

“China has adopted an attitude of being prepared to go the distance and pay any price,” he said, adding that it would take several months for the two sides to return to rational negotiations.