China is not deeply concerned about the impact of the Trump trade war — namely the imposition of several months of economic barriers set by the United States at President Donald Trump’s behest.
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China's Economic Growth Slows to Decade's Lowest Rate
China’s economy grew by 6.5 percent between July and September compared to the 6.7 percent growth experienced during the second trimester of 2018, according to data recently released by the Chinese statistics authority.
This difference in growth is significant but not sufficient to undermine the Chinese economy, the second largest in the world. It is the largest exporter of manufactured goods in the world, as well as the largest trader of commodities and leading holder of foreign reserves.
Additionally, China is undergoing an internal restructuring of its economy in which the pillar of growth in 2017 became internal demand, accounting for 90 percent of the total, with its foreign trade amount up by 33 percent.
According to the China Academy for Macroeconomic Research, China could withstand an increase of U.S. trade tariffs on its goods of up to 25 percent on US$200 billion and suffer only “limited impacts” to its economy.
While China does not welcome a trade war with the United States, it has shown no willingness to back down from it and is using all the weapons at its disposal to counterbalance U.S. barriers to trade.