As Trump Heads to Beijing, China Is 'Locked and Loaded' for a Fight

Beijing is signaling that it is ready for a trade showdown, and it is building up a legal arsenal in preparation.

Peace and stability will be the public message when President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, meet in Beijing this week. But behind the diplomatic platitudes, both governments are quietly preparing for something harsher — a prolonged economic war, mapping vulnerabilities and sharpening tools to inflict pain on the other.

In recent weeks, China has made clear that it no longer fears another escalation. It reached for a new legal mechanism to counter U.S. sanctions. It blocked Meta’s acquisition of a promising A.I. start-up founded in China. And it codified rules aimed at punishing foreign businesses that comply with Western efforts to pull back from China.

The moves are part of Beijing’s broader campaign to push back against what it sees as Washington’s intensifying efforts to constrain its economy and technological rise. Over the past year, the two countries have ratcheted up their economic offensives, whacking each other with steep tariffs, restricting the flow of rare earths and critical technologies and imposing sanctions on major industrial companies.

Whether Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump can agree to place even modest guardrails on their expanding economic weapons will be a critical litmus test of whether their meeting succeeds.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/business/trump-xi-economic-warfare.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hlA.hvBu.kLucaib8YMqq&smid=url-share