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The World Ahead | China in 2025

America and China’s trade war will rock the world

Countries that had previously managed to sit out the spat will be dragged into it

Cargo containers stacked at Yantian port in China
Image: Getty Images

By Mike Bird, Asia business and finance editor, The Economist

The trade war which began with tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Beijing in 2018 has now been raging for nearly seven years. With the re-election of Donald Trump in America, it will intensify in 2025. But the trade war is also spreading geographically. The number of countries being dragged into spats over trade with China is increasing, posing difficult decisions for governments.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2025 under the headline “The trade war spreads”

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