Trump Administration Privately Acknowledge Struggle in Trade War with China

Officials within the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump are privately acknowledging the challenges of the ongoing trade war with China, which was initiated by Trump two weeks ago, and the growing likelihood that Beijing will not yield to Washington’s demands.

In a report by the American publication Politico, Trump administration officials conceded the U.S. is in a relatively weak position. They pointed to Trump’s tariff exemptions on high-tech goods and the negative reaction from the stock and bond markets as signs that contradict the administration’s public claims of a well-coordinated strategy.

One former Trump official admitted that China is unlikely to back down, noting that Washington has already made more concessions than Beijing to mitigate the fallout from the tariffs.

Rick Waters, a former Biden administration official who spent March in China, told Politico, “The Chinese aren’t going to pay tribute to another emperor.”

It’s widely known that China has been preparing for years for the possibility of a trade war or sanctions from the U.S.—a reality that some in the White House are beginning to recognize.

Adding to Washington’s concerns, China recently imposed export controls on several rare earth minerals vital to U.S. industries. Many American companies had failed to stockpile these critical materials, unlike their Chinese counterparts who have been preparing for such disruptions.

Despite these developments, President Trump reportedly has no plans to reach out directly to President Xi Jinping. His advisers believe that initiating a phone call could be seen as another concession.

The trajectory of the trade war with China seems to mirror Trump’s approach to other major foreign policy challenges—involving Russia, Iran, and Yemen—where bold declarations of success are often followed by contradictory reports and public expressions of frustration from the president himself, particularly in the case of Ukraine.

Even the ongoing negotiations over TikTok reflect this pattern. The Trump administration is attempting to force a sale of the app to American investors from Chinese-owned ByteDance. While Trump previously claimed a deal was nearly finalized, the announcement of new tariffs on April 2nd stalled momentum. China has since stated that the deal is effectively dead, despite continued optimism from the White House.