China Believes It Will Beat Trump In Its Tariff Standoff As Deadline For Levies Looms

Chinese leaders are reportedly confident they can come out on top of the tariff standoff with the Trump administration, arguing they can wait for Washington D.C. to blink first.

Beijing has been targeted the most, with President Donald Trump saying on Monday that China should remove the 34% tariffs imposed as a response to his earlier levies or he would increase the figure by a further 50%. Should he make good on the threat, large portions of Chinese imports to the U.S. would end up facing a 104% tariff.

Beijing's Commerce Ministry has called the tariffs "completely groundless" and a "typical unilateral bullying practice." "The countermeasures China has taken are aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintaining the normal international trade order. They are completely legitimate," it added, vowing to "fight to the end."

In this context, The Washington Post quoted Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, who said "some people here believe that we should not seek negotiations right away."

"By then Trump will be under a ton of pressure and is maybe willing to negotiate with China, and by then China will be in a better position to bargain," he added, claiming that negotiating now "plays into Trump's hands."

China also faces pressures of its own. Ryan Hass, a senior fellow at Brookings, a Washington-based think tank, told the outlet that Beijing's leaders "recognize they are asymmetrically vulnerable to an escalating trade war," but they also "do not believe they have an exit ramp [and] will not tolerate being publicly pressured into submitting to Trump's will."

In another post on X, Hass said that "there's debate about whether the world is entering a period of blocs or a transition to an era of globalization minus the U.S.," claiming that "Beijing seems to prefer the latter scenario." "China's leaders will not countenance being seen as passive in response to the U.S.," he added.

Trump has been touting potential deals with other countries, specifically mentioning Japan and South Korea. However, he taunted China, saying the country "also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don't know how to get it started." "We are waiting for their call. it will happen!" Trump claimed.