My Take | How will China fight a new trade war under Trump 2.0? A museum exhibit may offer a clue
With hindsight from Trump’s first term, Beijing could adopt a different approach this time around
Inside the Museum of the Chinese Communist Party in northern Beijing – a massive new exhibition centre designed to allow the nation’s 900 million party members to pay tribute to the ruling party and showcase its achievements to the world – a small section named China-US Trade Negotiations sits near the exit.
According to a brief description next to those photos, the Trump administration “abandoned basic international-relationship principles of mutual respect and consultation on a basis of equality”, and took a series of “extreme trade protectionist measures”, which damaged the international economic order and hurt global trade relations, including China-US trade cooperation.
Beijing, on the other hand, responded by firmly safeguarding its national dignity and core interests, while resolutely pushing forward the “healthy development of China-US trade relationship”, the text reads.
With Trump’s re-election, many are wondering how China will handle his return to the White House. The president-elect has already threatened to impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese goods and 100 per cent tariffs on countries that seek to replace the US dollar as the main global currency. It seems that a new trade war between the world’s two largest economies is just around the corner.
