As the US-China trade dispute ramps up, with the announcement of $200bn-worth of new tariffs on Chinese imports, Beijing is savouring a quote from Mao Zedong. In a contest with a foe of great strength, Mao said, “injuring all of a man’s 10 fingers is not as effective as chopping off one, and routing 10 enemy divisions is not as effective as annihilating one of them”. China is adopting the same strategy in dealing with rising trade tensions. 

The concern in Beijing is that this trade war is not really about surpluses or unfair practices, but about Chinese aspiration. In the Bill Clinton era, the US viewed China as a “constructive strategic partner”. The administration of George W Bush saw the Chinese as “responsible stakeholders”, while Barack Obama sought to build a relationship with Beijing based on “mutual respect”. But by the time of the Trump administration’s first national security strategy, published in December, China had become the US’s principal “competitor”. 

So what does “chopping off one finger” signify in this context? It means focusing on pain points; going after a narrow set of products in the US, goods which have easy substitutes readily available in other markets — soyabeans from South America, for instance.