China’s economy likely showed stability in the first two months of the year, despite US President Donald Trump returning to office and almost instantly starting a second trade war with Beijing.

Trump, who imposed a wave of tariffs on China in his first term, has slapped another 20% duty on a wide swath of Chinese goods this year. Beijing, the top buyer of American agricultural products, recently imposed retaliatory tariffs of 10% to 15% on a range of U.S. exports like chicken, corn, soybeans and beef.

Long-threatened tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump have plunged the country into a trade war abroad — all while on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty.

Ensuring that China’s 1.4 billion citizens are adequately fed continues to top the policy agenda. While the Asian giant remains a key export market for largely Republican states in the Midwest farm belt, Beijing’s efforts to reconfigure supply chains after the trade war during the first Trump presidency have weakened Washington’s leverage.

The leaders of both Canada and Mexico got on the phone with President Donald Trump this past week to seek solutions after he slapped tariffs on their countries, but China’s president appears unlikely to make a similar call soon.

Beijing imposed broad tariffs on imports of American food and said 15 U.S. companies could no longer buy from China without special permission.

New tariffs could cut the country's steel exports by as much as one-fifth in the coming months, S&P Global predicts.

China on Thursday urged Washington to engage in a "dialogue" with Beijing on how to resolve President Trump's spiralling trade war and geopolitical tensions.

China is stuck in its longest deflation crisis in decades, and the numbers keep getting worse. Prices across the country have been falling for two straight years, and analysts say 2025 could be the third.