China learned from Trump's first trade war and changed its tactics when
tariffs came again
[March 10, 2025] By
DIDI TANG
WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of both Canada and Mexico got on the phone
with President Donald Trump this past week to seek solutions after he
slapped tariffs on their countries, but China’s president appears
unlikely to make a similar call soon.
Beijing, which unlike America's close partners and neighbors has been
locked in a trade and tech war with the U.S. for years, is taking a
different approach to Trump in his second term, making it clear that any
negotiations should be conducted on equal footing.
China’s leaders say they are open to talks, but they also made
preparations for the higher U.S. tariffs, which have risen 20% since
Trump took office seven weeks ago. Intent on not being caught off guard
as they were during Trump's first term, the Chinese were ready with
retaliatory measures — imposing their own taxes this past week on key
U.S. farm imports and more.
“As Washington escalates the tariff, Beijing doesn’t see other options
but to retaliate,” said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the
Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank. “It doesn’t mean Beijing
doesn’t want to negotiate, but it cannot be seen as begging for talks or
mercy.”
As the world's second-largest economy, China aspires to be a great power
on both the regional and global stage, commanding respect from all
countries, especially the United States, as proof that the Communist
Party has made China prosperous and strong.
After the U.S. this past week imposed another 10% tariff, on top of the
10% imposed on Feb. 4, the Chinese foreign ministry uttered its sharpest
retort yet: “If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade
war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”
The harsh rhetoric echoed similar comments in 2018, when Trump launched
his first trade war with China and it scrambled to line up tit-for-tat
actions. Beijing’s leaders have since developed a toolkit of tariffs,
import curbs, export controls, sanctions, regulatory reviews and
measures to limit companies from doing business in China.
All are designed to inflict pain on the U.S. economy and businesses in
response to the American measures.
That allowed the Chinese government to react swiftly to Trump’s recent
across-the-board doubling of new tariffs on Chinese goods by rolling out
a basket of retaliatory measures, including taxing many American farm
goods at up to 15%, suspending U.S. lumber imports and blacklisting 15
U.S. companies.
Beijing showed restraint in its response to leave room for negotiation,
analysts say.
Xi Jinping’s leadership of the ruling Communist Party spans both of
Trump’s terms, giving Beijing more continuity in its planning. He is the
one who decided it's not yet time to speak with Trump, said Daniel
Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the
Asia Society Policy Institute.
“That’s not a scheduling issue, it’s leverage for China,” said Russel,
who previously served as the assistant secretary of state for East Asian
and Pacific Affairs. “Xi won’t walk into a call if there’s a chance
he’ll be harassed or humiliated and for both political and strategic
reasons, Xi won’t play the role of a supplicant.”
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President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi
Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in
Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
 “Instead, China is hitting back
promptly — but judiciously — to each set of tariffs,” Russel said.
At his annual press conference Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang
Yi said that “no country should fantasize that it can suppress,
contain China while developing good relations with China.”
“Such two-faced acts not only are bad for the stability of bilateral
relations but also will not build mutual trust," Wang said. He added
that China welcomes cooperation with the U.S., but noted that “if
you keep pressuring, China will firmly retaliate.”
Scott Kennedy, a trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at
the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies,
said the Chinese this time are “not psychologically shocked” by
Trump’s “shock-and-awe” tactics.
“They’ve seen this before,” Kennedy said. “These are the kind of
things that they’ve anticipated.”
China’s economy has slowed but is still growing at nearly a 5%
annual pace, and under Xi, the party is investing heavily in
advanced technology, education and other areas. It has stronger
trade ties with many other countries than during Trump's first term
and has diversified where it gets key products, for example, buying
most of its soybeans from Brazil and Argentina instead of the U.S.
In turn, the percentage of Chinese goods sold to the U.S. has
fallen.
“They are better prepared to absorb the effect of the shocks,
compared to several years ago,” Kennedy said.
Meanwhile, more than 80% of Mexico's exports go to the U.S., and
Canada sends 75% of its exports here.
China has learned from its previous dealings with Trump, Russel
said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President
Claudia Sheinbaum are facing a reversal of Trump’s previous trade
policies, with tariffs imposed and then postponed twice on at least
some goods.
“Beijing has seen enough to know that appeasing Trump doesn’t work,"
Russel said. In the first go-around, Trudeau and Sheinbaum "bought a
little time, but the pressure only came roaring back stronger.”
Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump in December after the
president-elect threatened tariffs. But in announcing retaliatory
tariffs Tuesday, Trudeau sternly warned: “This is a time to hit back
hard and to demonstrate that a fight with Canada will have no
winners.”
Sheinbaum also has said that “no one wins with this decision.”
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