Trump Has Found a Way to Cut Out China
A new frontier has opened in the rivalry between the world’s two largest economies. The struggle is more geopolitical than geoeconomic.
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by Hans van Leeuwen
July 12, 2025
Donald Trump is opening up a new frontier in his trade war.
Despite striking a pact with China last month, the President is threatening to reignite tensions with Beijing by entangling the entirety of Asia in a sprawling web of tariff deals.
Even with fresh levies imposed on Japan and South Korea, Trump is racing to land a string of agreements across the continent, including with Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia.
If he pulls that off, he will build a cage around Xi Jinping’s ability to use Asian markets to prop up Beijing’s strained export-driven economy.
“What we are witnessing is no passing trade war,” says Neil Shearing, an economist at Capital Economics. “Rather, it is the manifestation of a deeper, more durable superpower rivalry between the world’s two largest economies.”
Already, Trump’s trade pacts with Britain and Vietnam have set a template for his plan to weaken Beijing’s trading power.
