Trump announced the tariffs on the weekend, as Chinese families were celebrating the New Year and inviting the God of Fortune into their homes.
Bright red lanterns currently swing over empty Beijing streets as most workers have left for their hometowns during the biggest holiday of the year.
China’s response has been far more muted than Canada or Mexico’s. The commerce ministry announced plans to take legal action and use the World Trade Organisation to air its grievances.
But this poses little threat to Washington. The WTO’s dispute settlement system has been effectively shut down since 2019 when Donald Trump – in his first term then – blocked the appointment of judges to handle appeals.
As the holiday draws to a close and party officials return to Beijing and to work – they have decisions to make.
Officials have been encouraged in recent weeks by signs that the Trump administration may want to keep the relationship stable especially after the two leaders had what Mr Trump called “a great phone call” last month.
For now, China is remaining calm perhaps in the hope of a doing a deal with Washington to avoid further tariffs and to keep the relationship between the world’s two largest economies from spiralling out of control.
But some believe this cannot last as both Republicans and Democrats have come to view China as the country’s biggest foreign policy and economic threat.
“Mr Trump’s unpredictability, his impulsiveness and recklessness will inevitably lead to significant shocks in the bilateral relationship,” says Wu Xinbo, professor and director at the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University.
“Additionally, his team contains quite a few hawks, even extreme hawks on China. It is unavoidable that the bilateral relationship will face serious disruption over the next four years.”
China is certainly concerned about its relationship with the US and the harm a trade war could do to its slowing economy.
But it will also be looking for ways to use the current political pendulum to swing the international community its way and within its sphere of influence.
