After a fortnight in which Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs evolved into an escalating trade war with China, a sense of defiant nationalism has been building in the east Asian country. The Chinese foreign ministry has even been sharing historic video clips from the former leader Mao Zedong:
“As to how long this war will last, we are not the ones to decide … We’ll fight until we completely triumph!”
Speaking from Beijing, the Guardian’s China correspondent, Amy Hawkins, tells Helen Pidd that while politically there is little appetite for backing down, the Chinese economy is not as strong as it once was, with caution that set in during the pandemic holding back its previous dynamism.
Hawkins explains that though the Chinese government has been diversifying its trade partners since the US president’s first term and is increasingly seeking to boost domestic consumption of the goods it manufactures, a global recession – which may emerge from a trade war – is something that many in China are worried about, including traders at Yiwu, the world’s largest wholesale market.
The pair also discuss how trade has been the linchpin of US-China relations for decades, and that without it, the risk of wider conflict is much greater.
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