The difference between Trump and China, is that China was preparing for this trade war for the last 5 years, and even more so when they understood early in the elections that Trump was going to win. China got its economy ready for sanctions and tarriffs, became less reliant on imports from the West and forged strong economic ties with Asian, Latin American and African countries. Trump has just gotten into office, and without bracing first, he just started smashing things. Guess who’s coming out on top in this.

Edit: by comparison Europe just assumed Trump would lose, and then assumed Trump would not impose tarriffs on them, despite clearly speaking about it for years. So here they are, having cut off their major energy supplier and then (literally) burning the bridge with Russia. Having imposed tarriffs on Chinese goods at the behest of the US, and still completely unprepared for the effects of Trump’s tarriffs. Yet, all they seem to care about is how to keep Ukraine’s funeral pyres burning.