Since Donald Trump returned to office, one country has borne the brunt of his fury. “We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world,” he declared in April, “but China is the… ‘chief-ripper-offer’.” On September 6th the president came up with a new label: “deepest, darkest China”.
He has matched words with action. Tariffs on Chinese goods, including hefty levies on the country to punish it for its role in the fentanyl trade, are among America’s highest. Trade pacts with South-East Asian countries target goods suspected of being “[transshipped](https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/07/08/trumps-trade-deals-try-a-creative-way-to-hobble-china)” from China, and America has leaned on the EU to keep Chinese metals out of its supply chains. Much of Mr Trump’s trade agenda is scattershot; trying to isolate China is the only part that looks like a coherent plan.
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has retaliated with his own tariffs, and is now courting other parts of the world, including the EU, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. His boldest display came at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit on September 1st, where he cast China as an alternative to America, urging members to “oppose cold war thinking…and bullying”.
What does all this mean in practice? A few months after Mr Trump’s “Liberation Day”, trade data provide a clue. According to Chinese customs figures, the latest of which were released on September 8th, over the past three months exports to America have plunged by a quarter against a year earlier. Uncle Sam’s share of China’s exports fell from 15% to 10% in August.
Yet Mr Trump’s grander ambition—to hurt China’s trade machine—has been unsuccessful. China’s overall exports have climbed, with new markets picking up the slack. Between June and August, China’s total shipments rose by 6% year on year. Sales to Africa surged by a third, exports to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) climbed by a fifth and shipments to Europe increased by nearly a tenth. A year ago the EU and America absorbed a similar share of China’s goods; today Europe takes over 60% more.
The world beyond America, then, is snapping up more Chinese goods than ever before. This is particularly true of the global south, where China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), established in 2013, has laid firm foundations. The BRI’s pace has quickened since Mr Trump returned to the White House. In the first half of 2025, BRI activity reached a record, with over $120bn in new contracts and investment handed out in the scheme, according to the Griffith Asia Institute, a research outfit. Nearly half of the initiative’s construction contracts, which are awarded to Chinese firms, are for projects in Africa. These amounted to more than $30bn—five times the amount in the same period the year before, and more than for any other region.
These deals are fuelling trade. Chinese exports to Nigeria leapt by over half in the past three months compared with a year earlier, led by demand for equipment to build Chinese-financed railways and power generation. Egypt has also tapped BRI loans. And Chinese finance is making progress in other regards, too. Kenya plans to convert dollar-denominated Chinese loans into yuan; Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa have signed swap agreements.
puxxypleaser on
there’s a reason why donald trump is called the ‘great nation builder’ by the chinese..
the more he attacks them, the more prosperous they get.. not to mention, trump also unites the world, against US..
trump certainly destroyed whatever little legitimacy US has left..
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Since Donald Trump returned to office, one country has borne the brunt of his fury. “We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world,” he declared in April, “but China is the… ‘chief-ripper-offer’.” On September 6th the president came up with a new label: “deepest, darkest China”.
He has matched words with action. Tariffs on Chinese goods, including hefty levies on the country to punish it for its role in the fentanyl trade, are among America’s highest. Trade pacts with South-East Asian countries target goods suspected of being “[transshipped](https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/07/08/trumps-trade-deals-try-a-creative-way-to-hobble-china)” from China, and America has leaned on the EU to keep Chinese metals out of its supply chains. Much of Mr Trump’s trade agenda is scattershot; trying to isolate China is the only part that looks like a coherent plan.
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has retaliated with his own tariffs, and is now courting other parts of the world, including the EU, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. His boldest display came at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit on September 1st, where he cast China as an alternative to America, urging members to “oppose cold war thinking…and bullying”.
What does all this mean in practice? A few months after Mr Trump’s “Liberation Day”, trade data provide a clue. According to Chinese customs figures, the latest of which were released on September 8th, over the past three months exports to America have plunged by a quarter against a year earlier. Uncle Sam’s share of China’s exports fell from 15% to 10% in August.
Yet Mr Trump’s grander ambition—to hurt China’s trade machine—has been unsuccessful. China’s overall exports have climbed, with new markets picking up the slack. Between June and August, China’s total shipments rose by 6% year on year. Sales to Africa surged by a third, exports to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) climbed by a fifth and shipments to Europe increased by nearly a tenth. A year ago the EU and America absorbed a similar share of China’s goods; today Europe takes over 60% more.
The world beyond America, then, is snapping up more Chinese goods than ever before. This is particularly true of the global south, where China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), established in 2013, has laid firm foundations. The BRI’s pace has quickened since Mr Trump returned to the White House. In the first half of 2025, BRI activity reached a record, with over $120bn in new contracts and investment handed out in the scheme, according to the Griffith Asia Institute, a research outfit. Nearly half of the initiative’s construction contracts, which are awarded to Chinese firms, are for projects in Africa. These amounted to more than $30bn—five times the amount in the same period the year before, and more than for any other region.
These deals are fuelling trade. Chinese exports to Nigeria leapt by over half in the past three months compared with a year earlier, led by demand for equipment to build Chinese-financed railways and power generation. Egypt has also tapped BRI loans. And Chinese finance is making progress in other regards, too. Kenya plans to convert dollar-denominated Chinese loans into yuan; Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa have signed swap agreements.
there’s a reason why donald trump is called the ‘great nation builder’ by the chinese..
the more he attacks them, the more prosperous they get.. not to mention, trump also unites the world, against US..
trump certainly destroyed whatever little legitimacy US has left..