If President Donald Trump’s tweets are taken at face value, the US-China trade war is a “beautiful thing” combating Beijing’s sharp practises while helping to attract “massive amounts of money” into the US. However, key data tell the opposite story.
Mr Trump threatened to impose a 10 per cent tariff on an additional $300bn of Chinese exports to the US from September 1. Washington also formally designated Beijing a “currency manipulator”.
But Beijing shows little sign of buckling. Hua Chunying, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson, called Washington “irresponsible” over its approach to negotiations, noting: “The Chinese economy grew by 6.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year, while for the US the number is 2.1 per cent.”