The planned summit is now being called into question Donald Trump – Si Jing Following yesterday’s (10.10.2025) Republican’s announcement of US duties to 100% (compared to 35% so far) against imports from China.
US President Trump once again chooses escalation – in the midst of China’s financial weakness, a Handelsblatt report notes On the occasion of Trump’s 100% duty on Chinese imports From November 1, 2025.
For a long time, the pattern was considered predictable: US President Donald Trump was provoking and escalating the tariff dispute, China responded with harsh rhetoric and countermeasures, while maintaining a strategy. In the end, Beijing usually emerged as the coldest player, or so was the impression.
But this time the tide could change. The Chinese leadership was very confident that Washington would only be contradictory for a while and that otherwise it could be held. Now, however, Trump is re -raising the tension at an unfavorable time for China: with duties, possible export bans and the threat of cancellation of the Summit with Xi Jinping scheduled for the end of October.
What initially seems to be another chapter in the endless commercial drama is in fact something more: a test of whether China is still controlling the escalation strategy. The recent steps of Beijing, in particular Research on the US semiconductor company Qualcomm For a possible violation of antitrust legislation and the stricter export controls for rare land, it is difficult to be considered resistance. They look like targeted bites in view of a possible encounter between the two leaders.
The massive increase in duties in many Chinese products is not only economic pressure but also political arrogance. Trump is under pressure in the interior: in the US, it is harassed by soy growers whose exports to China have collapsed because Beijing continues to close the market to soy imports.
Trump reacts with martial power to prevent any sign of weakness, while leaving himself an open door open for negotiations. Typical Trump. Financial markets certainly take it seriously.
The leadership of China should also take it seriously. The ban on exports of rare land and relevant processing technology, including third countries, is Beijing’s sharp weapon, given the huge dependence of many companies worldwide. But the measure is increasingly failing. Even close economic partners with important businesses in China are now realizing the movement as an expression of arrogance that threatens their own existence. Washington’s patience has already reached its limits.
However, China is not steadfast. The domestic economy is not doing well. Even the Golden Week holidays have failed to bring a sensible boost to the consumption. While the People’s Republic has been becoming more and more self -sufficient for years, even its second largest economy still depends on foreign technology, both on the construction of aircraft and in the army.
An ever -increasing dynamic
This creates an increasingly dangerous dynamic for both sides: Trump projects power, while Si cannot retreat inside. Both are further leading each other to a spiral of punitive tariffs, boycott and export bans, whose financial loss has long been real. This is not only felt by soy growers in the American “corn zone”, but also by electronics manufacturers in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
Beijing assumed that Washington would focus on the decline in the scheduled Si – Trump summit. Instead, the meeting threatens to collapse and China is in danger of harming her meticulously built image as a politically predictable superpower. This time, Beijing seems to have calculated wrong. The tragic thing is that the Chinese state and party leadership almost never retreat because they are convinced that they cannot afford it in the interior. All signs, therefore, show escalation.