After a very tempestuous 2025, the US and China had finally started playing nice towards the end of the year, but a renewed threat from US President Donald Trump has everyone guessing whether the US-China trade war is actually starting again.
On Tuesday, Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on any country “doing business” with Iran, a move that could affect Tehran’s key trading partners, mainly China. China is the biggest buyer of oil from Iran.
“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25 per cent on any and all business being done with the United States of America. This Order is final and conclusive,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Monday.
Entrepreneur Arnaud Bertrand wrote in a recent social media post that the ‘any’ in ‘any country’ means a lot. He even asked whether Iran is so critical to American interests that the US is ready to restart its trade war with China over it.
“I may be wrong but I call b***s***. The ‘any’ in ‘any country’ does a lot of work because 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports go to China. Is Iran so critical to US interests that Trump is ready to restart his trade war with China over it, just as things had stabilised, after having had to climb down twice already? Sounds crazy, even by Trump’s standards.”
He further said that Iran is already under the highest US sanctions for years, thus, Trump’s announcements are not going to have any impact whatsoever.
“All the more so given that Iran has already been under maximum U.S. sanctions for years so all the countries that trade with it are those unafraid of U.S. threats. So this announcement is likely to have zero effect whatsoever. This rather looks like face-saving performative ‘toughness.’ ”
Another social media, who goes by zerohedge on X, said, “Trade war with China is back.”
What does this mean? If Trump follows through on his latest tariff threat, the US will add a 25 per cent tax on all Chinese goods — from iPhones to furniture — just because China continues to buy oil from Iran.
At present, Iranian oil has limited buyers due to US sanctions aimed at slashing funds to Tehran’s nuclear programme. Chinese investments in Iran also cover areas such as power generation, mining, transportation equipment, arms, electronics, auto parts, and consumers.
Responding to Trump’s post dated January 12, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said that “trade wars have no winners”, adding Beijing would “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights”.