The S&P 500 stock index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18 per cent after Trump unveiled his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2 per cent below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the US-China truce struck in Geneva.
Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and US complaints about China‘s state-dominated, export-driven economic model.
Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives.
China sees mineral exports as a source of leverage. Halting those exports could put domestic political pressure on the Republican US president if economic growth sags because companies cannot make mineral-powered products.
In recent years, US officials have identified China as its top geopolitical rival and the only country in the world able to challenge the United States economically and militarily.
