It makes for a provocative moment in which to reconsider global trade dynamics. What is unfolding at the moment reflects how connected, yet by design, robustly, regulated, resilient the global economy is today. When Trump claimed that China would have a difficult time without U.S. consumers, the assumption was that it was too economically reliant and dependent on U.S. consumers to be able to diversify or quickly re-establish the trade relations. China is tossing around trade partners now, especially to EM’s, as well as Southeast Asia, and African partners.
This does not mean the U.S. market doesn’t matter anymore, because it still has an importance in the global trade symphony, but China is intentionally working to reduce single-market risk and expand their domestic and regional demand. The American companies are also desiring to diversify the supply chain, shifting some into Vietnam, India, and Mexico.
So instead of just collapsing under the pressure of U.S. trade policy, China adapted to develop a more fragmented, multipolar trade relationship, which opens the economy to less trade protectionism with other countries by being less reliant on a single country, in addition to re-establishing responsiveness to shocks of trade policy.