Trump isolates China with tariff pivot, setting up Xi showdown

President Donald Trump’s dramatic U-turn on tariff threats has isolated China as the primary target of his trade offensive, significantly narrowing Beijing's options for immediate de-escalation.

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US tariffs on Chinese imports rose to a record 125 per cent yesterday noon (China time) while those on dozens of countries were paused. The selective reprieve announced hours earlier drove US stocks to their best rally since 2008, but pushed the onshore yuan to its weakest level since 2007.

By singling out China, Washington signalled it’s looking to exert maximum pressure on the world’s second-largest economy while seeking other countries’ cooperation in its rivalry with Beijing.

“We can probably reach a deal with our allies” at the end of the day, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday. “They’ve been good military allies, not perfect economic allies. And then we can approach China as a group.”