The US and China are on the brink of a large-scale war

The US and China are on the brink of a large-scale trade war, reports the Financial Times. The situation is driven by the impending imposition of tariffs that are set to come into effect.

Analysts had anticipated that the US and China would engage in negotiations to prevent "serious trade conflicts." Initially, Trump hoped to converse with Xi Jinping; however, after Beijing announced retaliatory tariffs, the US President stated that he was "in no hurry" and that the tariffs were merely the "first round" of measures before significantly more serious actions would be undertaken.

Officials at the Chinese Embassy in Washington noted that "nothing new has occurred" since the announcement of tariffs. "Whatever will be, let it be. Regardless, much of the burden is borne by American consumers, and many Chinese companies have already relocated some of their operations abroad. Tariffs are not as lethal a weapon as Washington believes," stated Professor John Gong from the University of International Business and Economics.

However, economists are confident that the 60 percent tariff threatened by Trump would severely harm the Chinese economy. They calculated that each 20 percentage point increase in tariffs would reduce China's GDP by 0.7 percentage points.