In the summer of 2018, when former President Donald Trump launched a trade war with Beijing, the Chinese economy was gaining on the United States, and popular opinion suggested it could soon become the world’s largest.

The United States, with Donald Trump assuming the role of President, may impose tariffs of nearly 40% on imports from China next year, according to a recent poll of economists by Reuters.

Mr Trump’s threat of a new trade war puts China’s leaders in a tricky spot. America’s president-elect has talked of imposing tariffs of 60% on Chinese goods. Even if he settles on lower levies, China will feel the need to respond.

For the second largest economy, China, a big source of concern is tariffs against Chinese products. During the campaign trail, Trump had stated that he would impose at least 60% tariffs on Chinese imports and 20% tariffs on imports from all other countries.

After the resounding victory of Donald Trump in US presidential elections, once he takes over the president’s office in January, the first and foremost thing he is likely to do is to impose tariffs on Chinese imports,

US President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to take a confrontational approach to China, with tariffs as his weapon of choice. But unless his administration adopts a measured approach, his plans may end up harming American businesses and consumers,