Finance & economics | Battle-ready

Why China has the upper hand in its trade war with America

A truce is still possible, but no one wants to be first to pick up the phone

Illustration: George Wylesol
|HONG KONG|6 min read

“HAVE YOU heard of the eye of the storm?” asks a video posted on April 29th by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The centre of a tornado or cyclone can be deceptively calm. But it is actually a “deadly trap”. The world is caught in a similar spot, the ministry argues, thanks to the “tariff storm” America has conjured up.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Battle ready ”

From the May 3rd 2025 edition

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