Exclusive | How China came up with a game plan to survive a Trump 2.0 trade war
Officials in Chinese agencies and state firms started working on a playbook long before the US presidential elections in November
Months before the US election in November, many employees at Chinese government departments and major state-owned companies were working on ways to counter potential fallout from a second Trump administration.
“We began diving deep into everything about Trump starting from the middle of last year,” a senior executive from one of the country’s biggest financial institutions said.
“We conducted research and studies on him from every possible angle – everything he said and all his past moves,” the executive said, declining to be named.
The officials were working around the clock in anticipation of another trade war – so much so all business trips had to be taken by the end of February unless they were related to trade issues.
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‘Fake news’: Chinese officials dismiss claims of US trade war consultations
The Chinese leadership anticipated Trump would be unpredictable and have a hawkish China policy, including high tariffs on Chinese imports.