{"id":278868,"date":"2025-04-10T14:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/10\/trumps-tariff-war-5-reasons-why-xi-jinping-isnt-blinking-times-of-india\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T14:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:50:14","slug":"trumps-tariff-war-5-reasons-why-xi-jinping-isnt-blinking-times-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/10\/trumps-tariff-war-5-reasons-why-xi-jinping-isnt-blinking-times-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s tariff war: 5 reasons why Xi Jinping isn\u2019t blinking &#8211; Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-120164541,imgsize-186148,width-400,resizemode-4\/120164541.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Trump\u2019s tariff war: 5 reasons why Xi Jinping isn\u2019t blinking &#8211; Times of India\" title=\"Trump\u2019s tariff war: 5 reasons why Xi Jinping isn\u2019t blinking &#8211; Times of India\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"MwN2O\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"T22zO\">\n<section class=\"D3Wk1  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  VtlfQ\" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"D3Wk1\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"zPaFh\">\n<div class=\"wJnIp\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cj2hz img_cptn\"><span title=\"China responded quickly to Trump\u2019s tariffs, but its countermeasures were limited in scope.\">China responded quickly to Trump\u2019s tariffs, but its countermeasures were limited in scope.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>US President <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/donald-trump\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Donald Trump<\/a> on Wednesday paused sweeping tariffs on most nations\u2014but pointedly excluded China, jacking up levies on Beijing to a punishing 125%. China, in turn, hit back with retaliatory tariffs of 84% and vowed to \u201cfight to the end.\u201d<br \/>China on Thursday called on the United States to meet it \u201chalfway\u201d in the escalating trade war. \u201cThe door to dialogue is open, but it must be based on mutual respect and conducted in an equal manner,\u201d said commerce ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian.<br \/>\u201cThe US tariffs seriously damage the rules-based multilateral trading system, and seriously impact the stability of the global economic order,\u201d said foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian. <!-- -->\u201cThis is a blatant act that goes against the will of the world and goes against the whole world.\u201d China will not sit back and let the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese people be deprived, Lin added.<br \/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Why it matters<\/span><br \/>The US-China trade war has entered uncharted territory, threatening to fracture the world\u2019s most important bilateral economic relationship and disrupt the global trading system.<br \/>This isn&#8217;t just another tariff spat\u2014it\u2019s a geopolitical showdown with ripple effects far beyond Washington and Beijing. The two countries represent nearly 40% of global GDP and account for over a quarter of global trade. A rupture between them isn&#8217;t just bilateral pain\u2014it\u2019s systemic shock.<br \/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Here&#8217;s what&#8217;s at stake<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"cdatainfo modify_cdata_list_style id-r-component \" data-pos=\"21\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Global supply chains: <\/strong>China is the world\u2019s manufacturing hub, and US tariffs on its exports are already forcing multinationals to rethink sourcing. That means years of volatility, higher costs, and slower transitions for industries from tech and autos to apparel and pharmaceuticals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>US inflation and recession risk: <\/strong>Tariffs function like a tax on imported goods. As prices for consumer electronics, home goods, and industrial parts rise, US households and businesses are already feeling the pinch. Economists warn that prolonged tariff hikes could tip the economy into recession\u2014especially as the Fed struggles to contain inflation without derailing growth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chinese economic fragility: <\/strong>China is still recovering from its property sector collapse, high youth unemployment, and years of weak consumer demand. A drawn-out trade war could choke off one of its few bright spots\u2014exports\u2014at a time when confidence in its recovery is already shaky.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Investor uncertainty: <\/strong>The unpredictability of Trump\u2019s tariff moves\u2014escalating one day, pausing the next\u2014has rattled markets. Companies, particularly in tech and finance, face a high-risk environment with no clear policy roadmap.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geopolitical decoupling: <\/strong>Beyond the economy, the tariff war is accelerating a broader strategic decoupling between the US and China. That includes technology, defense, academia, and even diplomacy\u2014threatening decades of interdependence that have defined the post-Cold War era.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">The big picture: A long game, not a quick resolution<\/span><br \/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">1. Xi\u2019s strategy: Strength at all costs<\/span><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/xi-jinping\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Xi Jinping<\/a> is not seeking a face-saving way out of Trump\u2019s tariff spiral. He\u2019s preparing for long-term confrontation. Xi&#8217;s messaging is clear: China will not buckle under pressure. <!-- -->State media has leaned hard into nationalist rhetoric, framing the trade war as a patriotic struggle. The People\u2019s Daily declared China had \u201crich experience\u201d in managing economic conflict with the US and \u201cample plans\u201d to support domestic industries.<\/p>\n<div class=\"_oWMq   \">\n<p>Xi has been very clear for a very long time that he expects China will enter a period of protracted struggle with the United States and its allies, that China needed to prepare for that, and they have quite extensively,\u201d said Jacob Gunter, lead economy analyst at Berlin-based think tank MERICS. Xi Jinping has accepted that the gauntlet is thrown down, and they are ready to put up a fight.<\/p>\n<p>An article in CNN<small\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But this isn\u2019t just about appearances. For Xi, giving in to Trump\u2019s demands would weaken his image at home and abroad. As China\u2019s most powerful leader since Mao, he can\u2019t afford to be seen capitulating to a US president who boasts of &#8220;winning&#8221; every escalation. <!-- -->\u201cChina wants to make a deal, they just don\u2019t know how quite to go about it,\u201d Trump said. Beijing&#8217;s response? Silence and defiance.<br \/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">2. Built for the long haul: Strategic endurance<\/span><br \/>Beijing has spent years preparing for this moment. After enduring Trump\u2019s first trade war, Chinese officials launched a quiet but sweeping effort to reduce their economy\u2019s exposure to the US. <\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component QbQNS undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"US-China trade\" msid=\"120164192\" width=\"600\" title=\"\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"23456\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/imgsize-23456,msid-120164192,width-600,resizemode-4\/us-china-trade.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component QbQNS undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"China not reliant on US trade\" msid=\"120164255\" width=\"600\" title=\"\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"23456\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/imgsize-23456,msid-120164255,width-600,resizemode-4\/china-not-reliant-on-us-trade.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The results are now surfacing:<\/p>\n<div class=\"cdatainfo modify_cdata_list_style id-r-component \" data-pos=\"47\">\n<ul>\n<li>US-bound exports have dropped from 20% of China&#8217;s total in 2018 to under 15% today.<\/li>\n<li>Manufacturers moved operations to third countries like Vietnam and Cambodia to sidestep tariffs.<\/li>\n<li>China\u2019s rare earth and advanced tech sectors have been strategically fortified.<\/li>\n<li>Domestic innovation in AI, robotics, and semiconductors\u2014especially via firms like Huawei and DeepSeek\u2014has surged.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Chinese government has been preparing for this day for six years,\u201d Victor Shih, of UC San Diego, told CNN.<\/li>\n<li>China\u2019s new posture signals that it\u2019s not just surviving the trade war\u2014it\u2019s trying to use it to pivot away from economic dependence on the US.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">3. Xi is &#8216;president-for-life&#8217;; Trump is not<\/span><br \/>Thousands marched in Washington and cities nationwide over the weekend, voicing opposition to President Trump. <!-- -->He&#8217;s also drawing heat from Wall Street, where investors blame his tariffs for rattling global markets and triggering economic uncertainty.<br \/>In contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping faces no such public backlash. With tight control over media and dissent, he can roll out monetary and fiscal support as needed to soften the social fallout. <br \/>&#8220;Ultimately, it becomes a game of which country can actually manage its own population more effectively to manage the subsequent economic consequences from this trade war. <!-- -->Trump has to face, or at least Republican politicians have to face a lot of electoral pressure, and the American media are still pretty much free. So I think Trump&#8217;s ability to fight politically with China is not that great,&#8221; Zhiwu Chen, professor of finance at HKU Business School, told Reuters.<br \/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">4. Economic costs: A two-way street<\/span><br \/>B<!-- -->oth sides are feeling the pain. <!-- -->For China, the latest wave of tariffs could wipe out entire industries. Victor Shih, director at UCSD\u2019s 21st Century China Center, warns of \u201cmillions of people becoming unemployed\u201d and \u201ca wave of bankruptcy\u201d across Chinese exporters, according to a CNN report. Yet he also notes: \u201cChina can sustain that much more so than American politicians can.\u201d<br \/>In the US, JP Morgan analysts estimate that tariffs on China could cost American consumers and businesses up to $860 billion. Many Chinese goods\u2014especially electronics, appliances, and industrial inputs\u2014are hard to replace quickly. That means higher prices, supply chain disruptions, and delayed reshoring.<br \/>What\u2019s more, some of America\u2019s biggest multinationals\u2014like Tesla and Apple\u2014have massive exposure in China. <!-- -->Chinese officials know this and have suggested they might target US firms, restrict services, or even ban entertainment content as part of the response.<br \/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">5. Diplomatic recalibration: Beijing\u2019s global hedge<\/span><br \/>Even as Trump isolates China, Xi is deepening ties with Europe and Southeast Asia, offering incentives like lowered tariffs and increased export subsidies to sidestep US markets\u2014and woo America\u2019s frustrated allies.<\/p>\n<div class=\"_oWMq   \">\n<p>Trump thrives on disorder, keeping adversaries off-balance and sharpening his leverage. China, by contrast, is trapped in the art of the delay, waiting for clarity that never comes. The longer Xi stalls, the greater the peril, as Trump fills the vacuum with new tariffs and sidelines Beijing in a game that keeps accelerating.<\/p>\n<p>An article in Foreign Policy<small\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Zoom in: &#8216;Xi will not be forced into a call&#8217;<\/span><br \/>One of the most dangerous dynamics is the absence of credible negotiators. Trump has centralized trade decisions around himself, leaving cabinet officials and envoys unable to act with authority. <!-- -->China, watching the chaos, no longer knows who to talk to. Meanwhile, Xi has gutted China\u2019s diplomatic flexibility\u2014only he can decide to soften or escalate, and he has little incentive to back down, a Foreign Policy article said.<br \/>\u201cXi will not be forced into a call,\u201d Sun Yun, director of the China programme at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Centre, told AP. Craig Singleton, the senior China fellow at another Washington-based think tank, told AP that a phone call from Beijing is \u201cunlikely in this climate.\u201d<br \/>\u201cEach side believes time is on its side, which raises the risk that neither moves to de-escalate until real damage is done,\u201d he said. <!-- -->\u201cThis is no longer about tariffs alone. It&#8217;s a test of wills.\u201d<br \/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Bottom line<\/span><br \/>Trump and Xi are now trapped\u2014each by their own strategy. Trump has framed the trade war as a crusade for economic justice and can\u2019t afford to appear soft on China. Xi has stoked nationalist pride and positioned himself as the leader who will never bow to Western pressure. The result is a deadlock with no clear exit, no trusted interlocutors, and no incentive\u2014political or economic\u2014to fold.<br \/>(With inputs from agencies)<\/div>\n<p><script>\nvar _mfq = window._mfq || [];\n_mfq.push([\"setVariable\", \"toi_titan\", window.location.href]);\n!(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n    function loadFBEvents(isFBCampaignActive) {\n      if (!isFBCampaignActive) {\n        return;\n      }\n      (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n        if (f.fbq) return;\n        n = f.fbq = function() {\n          n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(...arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);\n        };\n        if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n        n.push = n;\n        n.loaded = !0;\n        n.version = '2.0';\n        n.queue = [];\n        t = b.createElement(e);\n        t.async = !0;\n        t.defer = !0;\n        t.src = v;\n        s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n      })(f, b, e, 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js', n, t, s);\n      fbq('init', '593671331875494');\n      fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    };\n    function loadGtagEvents(isGoogleCampaignActive) {\n      if (!isGoogleCampaignActive) {\n        return;\n      }\n      var id = document.getElementById('toi-plus-google-campaign');\n      if (id) {\n        return;\n      }\n      (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n        t = b.createElement(e);\n        t.async = !0;\n        t.defer = !0;\n        t.src = v;\n        t.id = 'toi-plus-google-campaign';\n        s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n      })(f, b, e, 'https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=AW-877820074', n, t, s);\n    };\n    function loadSurvicateJs(allowedSurvicateSections = []){\n      const section =  window.location.pathname.split('\/')[1]\n      const isHomePageAllowed = window.location.pathname === '\/' && allowedSurvicateSections.includes('homepage')\n      if(allowedSurvicateSections.includes(section) || isHomePageAllowed){\n        (function(w) {\n         function setAttributes() {\n                    var prime_user_status = window.isPrime ? 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US President Donald Trump on Wednesday paused sweeping tariffs on most nations\u2014but pointedly excluded China, jacking up levies on Beijing to a punishing 125%. China, in turn, hit back with retaliatory tariffs of 84% and vowed to \u201cfight to the end.\u201dChina on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-120164541,imgsize-186148,width-400,resizemode-4\/120164541.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[604],"tags":[215591,764,273,13441,17310,2452,3487,272,215589,215590,1734,3102,215588,2762],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278870,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278868\/revisions\/278870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}