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World

What does Donald Trump want from a trade war with China?

4 February 2025

11:27 PM

4 February 2025

11:27 PM

What are the real intentions of Donald Trump’s trade war? Does he really believe tariffs work to boost economic growth domestically? Does he see them as tools to prop up American businesses, as his Vice President does? Or, as in his first term, are threats of import levies almost purely about leverage – and if so, what does he want?

Last-ditch efforts to pause 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods seem to have worked, with both countries pledging to better police illegal immigration and drug trafficking across the borders.

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