Chinese retaliatory tariffs aim to hit Trump in his electoral base

The president has claimed that trade wars are 'easy to win' but Beijing and the EU plan to hit back against states that elected him

Washington's penchant for brandishing "big sticks" will come back to haunt it, China Daily, official organ of the Chinese government, warned on Friday as trade tensions between the two countries continued to fray. And China, and the EU, have identified just where that haunting will begin: in America's heartland.

For Donald Trump, the threat of a trade war with China, as well as potentially with Mexico and Canada, is a vital component of an overdue effort to correct longstanding injustices that have seen the US taken advantage of by trading partners for "far too long".

Related: Trump threatens car tariffs after EU sets up 200m of levies on US

When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don't trade anymore-we win big. It's easy!

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