The WSJ reported that China is preparing to hit back at US President Donald Trump’s targeted tariffs against it. Trump is set to unveiled to list of products tomorrow, which could add up to as much as USD 60b of annual tariffs.
It’s not really news that China is preparing counter measures. But what WSJ said is that China’s tit-for-tat tariffs would target Trump’s support base. That is, they will be aimed at agricultural exports from Farm Belt states.
That raises a question on whether China views it as trade war with the US, the Republicans, or Trump himself. Trump war might be easy to win for a sized economy against smaller ones. It’s much tougher between two economies of comparable size.
Would there be a chance if the trade war is between a political party, a family, or even a person, against a sized economy?
Remember that it’s an authoritarian government in China. What they’d do very much depends on how their leader Xi Jinping views it. If Xi sees the provocation as from Trump only, rather than the whole of the US, then good luck to the latter.
