As the U.S.–China trade war continues, Trump administration officials are working to strike deals with Xi Jinping’s neighbors. The negotiations are part of a broader strategy to isolate Beijing in its own backyard and weaken China’s negotiating position ahead of a potential trade deal with the U.S.
Speaking with Fox Business last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized the “overwhelming” number of countries that have approached the administration for negotiations, singling out Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, India, and Vietnam amid tariff talks.
“Everyone is coming to the table,” he said, “and basically, China’s surrounded.”
U.S. tariffs on China have now reached 145 percent, and Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods sit at 125 percent. The administration’s universal 10 percent tariff on all trading partners is still in effect following the administration’s April 9 pause on reciprocal tariffs with some countries.
‘Cutting your own throat’
The administration has spent weeks pressuring Beijing to stem the flow of fentanyl from China into the U.S.. It has not ruled out delisting Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges as part of a broader strategy to isolate China from the world.
Meanwhile, administration officials have begun urging foreign trading partners to transition their economies away from reliance on cheap Chinese goods while threatening possible retaliation if countries pivot toward Beijing. Also this month, Bessent forcefully pushed back against Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s suggestion that Europe embrace a more favorable trade relationship with China, snapping back: “That would be cutting your own throat.”
Navigating this dynamic may prove tricky for the Trump administration, given the White House’s opening salvo on “Liberation Day” was to slap tariffs on friends and foes alike. “When we treat our allies and our friends the exact same way that we treat our adversaries, that complicates everything and muddies the waters and incentivizes them to act more like an independent geopolitical entity, as opposed to an aligned entity with us,” Sobolik added.
And Beijing is not asleep at the wheel. Xi Jinping has launched a global trade campaign of his own in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, aiming to present China as a more reliable economic partner than the U.S.
“What China is trying to do is basically say: ‘Listen, we’re not the aggressor in this trade war. We want to cut a deal with you guys, too,” says Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of Countering China’s Great Game. “‘And instead of having the sword of Damocles hanging over your head like the Americans do in the form of retaliatory tariffs, we are just coming to you, friend to friend, to cut a better deal.’”
The administration is barreling full-steam ahead. The “ball is in China’s court,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier this week. “China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” she said. “There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger. And China wants what we have, what every country wants: the American consumer. Or, to put it another way, they need our money.”
Meanwhile, Beijing continues to signal that they are open to talks with the U.S. if administration officials conduct the trade talks “with respect,” Bloomberg reported this week.
As the trade war continues, U.S. officials and China hawks will start closely tracking any upticks in layoffs tied to coastal production and export industries, though these indicators are notoriously difficult to track due to the Chinese Communist Party’s autocratic control over economic metrics. “Any sort of reporting about downticks in employment will suggest that Xi’s economic position is getting tenuous,” says Sobolik.
‘Much deeper than tariffs and trade’
The fresh focus on upping the pressure on China comes after White House officials have spent recent days sending conflicting messages about the end goal of the administration’s tariff strategy.
Adding to the confusion, the White House has issued tariff exemptions for certain electronic products, prompting tariff-skeptical conservatives to worry that sector-specific exemptions will soon metastasize into a corporate welfare regime.
“What really worries me about what’s going on right now with the tariff fight is that it’s just becoming a lobbying frenzy, and all the groups, all the companies are saying: ‘Oh, exempt us,’” says Stephen Moore, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former economic adviser to Trump. “My advice to the president is: Don’t pick winners and losers here. If you’re going to have a tariff, apply it to everyone equally.”
In early April, Trump framed his “liberation day” announcement as a move to reshore domestic manufacturing and address the U.S. trade deficit.
Nationalist populist conservatives have cheered that framing as a major step in realigning America’s role in the world. “This is much deeper than tariffs and trade. This is a reordering of the commercial, economic order of the world,” conservative pundit and former White House adviser Steve Bannon told National Review in an interview.