US Trade War and China's Might

The international trade war-triggered by US President Donald Trump's announcement of import tariffs on more than 180 countries on April 2, 2025-ultimately left only the trade rivalry between the United States (US) and China. This is because of the many countries affected by tariffs, only China has firmly stated that it will not submit to the threat of US tariffs. China even dared to counter the import tariff attacks set by the US with equally high tariff attacks.

For example, when the US raised tariffs on imported goods from China by 145 percent, China responded to the US with a 125 percent tariff on imported goods from the US that would enter the Chinese market. Even more than that, China loudly voiced that the Bamboo Curtain country would fight to the end to oppose all forms of US trade protectionism driven by Donald Trump. Later facts began to emerge, it turned out that the US was secretly trying to approach China to open talks related to the solution to the tariff war.

This is because the US under the leadership of Donald Trump 2.0 is now on the brink of an economic recession due to Trump's haphazard policies. This can be seen from US economic indicators such as the US gross domestic product (GDP) which contracted to 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025. Even though the implementation of reciprocal tariffs was postponed until July 9, 2025. 

Source Reuters.com

Trump is starting to feel the bad consequences of the policies he has taken. US technology products such as Boeing, for example, some time ago began not to be considered by China. Explicitly, China rejected Boeing products by cancelling the US aircraft order due to the 145 percent tariff imposed by the US on China. Even within the US, resistance to Trump's reciprocal tariff policy is massive, the pressure to stop the policy is really pressing Trump.

Trump's policy of postponing the implementation of reciprocal tariffs until July 2025 proves that Trump is starting to waver and think again. He hopes that with the pause in tariffs, countries that want to survive Trump's tariffs will one by one come to the US to negotiate tariffs. But not China. China is the only country affected by Trump's reciprocal tariffs that does not want to approach the US just to reduce or relax the arbitrary import tariffs. China doesn't even want to bother with the US. For China, they are ignorant about tariffs, their economy will still grow significantly regardless of whether or not there is a US tariff war.

As the country that became the worst victim of Trump's reciprocal tariffs, China was not provoked by the US maneuvers that began to open up and persuade China to negotiate tariffs. Responding to the US steps that began to approach China, the Chinese authorities emphasized that they would only dialogue if trade tariff negotiations were carried out fairly, with mutual respect, and revoked all tariffs that harmed China. This happens because China realizes that they have almost equal military political economic power with the US so there is no reason for China to submit to the US which has disrupted the world economic order through its unilateral policies.

Now only China is left, a country that cannot be dictated by the US. For the author, China's attitude is cool, China is mighty, enviable on condition that countries that want to be like China must have the independence and economic progress of the political economy like China. If it is not able to match China, then it is predictable that the country will be dependent on the US and the US can easily dictate the political economy they want. In order to obtain tariff relief from the US, which imposed a 32 percent trade tariff on imported products from Indonesia, the Indonesian government struggled to negotiate tariffs with the US. Top Indonesian officials visited the US government to negotiate tariffs, and in the end Indonesia was asked to make changes to domestic economic policies that were considered burdensome to the US. For example, the policy of using the QRIS payment system was complained by the US because they felt that VISA and Master Card cards would compete with QRIS, the policy of using the level of use of domestic components was also complained by the US because it was considered inflexible and difficult for US companies investing in Indonesia. Halal certification is also complained by the US as it is considered complicated and cumbersome.

In the end, if it is not careful and has a firm stance as a sovereign country, Indonesia will easily submit to US pressure. However, something like this does not apply to China. The country led by Xi Jinping cannot be easily influenced, let alone dictated by the US. Again, this is because China's political economy is very strong. They are already self-sufficient and it is even predicted that in the near future they will completely overtake the glory of the US.