Trump 2.0 is going well for China so far. But can the honeymoon last?
Hong Kong CNN —
Donald Trump’s second term in office is getting off to a good start for China.
The new US president has so far refrained from acting on his threat to slap hefty tariffs on China, told business and political leaders at an economic forum in Davos that the two countries could have a “very good relationship” and reportedly expressed interest in visiting the Chinese capital in the months ahead.
Trump even gave a 75-day reprieve to Chinese-owned app TikTok and signaled he would look to dilute a law requiring the company divest its American business or be banned.
All this adds up to a strong signal that the returning president is willing to talk – and cut deals – with China. At least for now.
That is welcome news for Beijing, which has been bracing for a tumultuous period in US-China relations as Trump stacked his cabinet with China hawks and campaigned on levying high tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US.
“China realizes that’s there an opportunity to negotiate with Trump,” said political scholar Liu Dongshu of the City University of Hong Kong. “And a better US-China relationship is more important to China than to United States … so China is eager” to engage.
Stakes are high for Beijing, as a tit-for-tat trade war like the one during Trump’s last administration would hit China’s ailing export-reliant economy at a bad time. And Chinese leaders have been keen to seize on the opportunity to soften Trump’s hard line.
Xi called for a “new starting point” in US-China ties during a call with Trump days ahead of the inauguration and dispatched Vice President Han Zheng to the US capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony, the seniormost Chinese official ever to attend such an event.
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