Suspension of duties by US President Donald Trump has soared world markets on Wednesday, with the White House in touch with dozens of countries to conclude agreements, calls and meetings in the coming weeks.

But a country was obviously absent from any approach: China

As the US has frozen the duties for the rest of the world for 90 days, the same is not the case for China after increasing tariffs an additional 145% in all Chinese products reaching the US. In response, Beijing has already increased its own US duties to 84%.

An unprecedented trade war between the two economic superpowers of the world is rapidly shaped.

Two senior White House officials told CNN that Trump told his team that China should be the one to take the first step after the White House believes Beijing has chosen to further escalate the trade war.

This stance by Trump has reached Beijing’s ears for about two months, with the US president’s team clearly telling Chinese officials that President Xi Jinping should call Trump. However, Beijing has repeatedly refused to have a telephone call at the leaders’ level, according to three sources knowing official communications.

“China wants to make a deal. They just don’t know how to do it, ”Trump said on Wednesday. “You know, it’s one of those things that don’t know well – they’re proud of people,” he said.

In order to search for communication channel

But for months, US and China leaders are discussing each other, exacerbating their relationships. Backstage, there is official communication between the two countries by a working group, but a high -level dialogue has not taken place. Unofficial discussions that have been held so far have proven counterproductive, according to three sources informed of the situation, resulting in relations between the two countries.

China’s dependence on the strict protocol and the desire to prepare Si for any telephone communication of such a size is essentially contradicted to the way Trump operates, some now and former officials say.

China is trying to create an unofficial channel, as it had with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Salivan, but so far this effort is unsuccessful. The Trump government did not want contacts with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Y, who serves as an interlocutor, suggesting that Wang is not close enough to the narrow circle of Si and cannot trust him.

Chinese officials have received specific names of people with whom the White House would like to work with, but China will not retreat, sources say.

While China’s ambassador to the US has tried to bring both sides to some communication, the lack of communication channel at the main level is a problem in communicating between the two countries, which Trump says it is necessary.

Two senior White House officials told CNN that Trump would be happy to start communication At a level just below that of leaders if it has an effect.

Although Trump’s officials believe that he will decide when to start the conversations – it is clear that The ball is currently on the Chinese stadium

“The door of the talks is open, but the dialogue must be carried out on the basis of mutual respect and equality,” a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman said Thursday. “If the US chooses the confrontation, China will respond with the same currency. Pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right ways of dealing with China. “

In the midst of the confrontation, the White House tried to prioritize trade agreements with Japan, South Korea and Vietnam to push Beijing, a senior White House official said.

Today’s and former US officials do not exclude the possibility of an unexpected communication channel that will prepare the ground to have a possible SI -Trump communication. But former US officials say the key is for the Chinese to ensure that they will not send Si to an ambush that has probably been set up by the Americans.

“The Chinese in any case are reluctant to put their leader in the position of Zelenski,” said Danny Russell, a former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and currently vice president of the Asian Institute of Asian Policy. “They want to ensure that there are some foundations for a meeting and that there are some basic rules.”

‘Mutually assured disaster’

Chinese officials have sought ways to get to Trump directly through businessmen.

When Si sent Vice President Han Zeng to Washington as China’s high -ranking envoy who ever attended a presidential swearing -in, Han also had a meeting with Ilon Musk.

Tesla’s billionaire chief executive has businesses in China and also has a huge influence in the early days of the Trump government. Chinese officials hoped to create more direct lines of communication with the new Trump government, using Musk as an intermediate, said a person who knows the issue. But so far, these efforts have not worn fruit.

China has consumed the possibility of overturning Blue-Chip’s American companies in China, such as Apple, Tesla, Caterpillar and Starbucks. Finally, according to two sources informed of the discussions, Beijing rejected this idea – worrying that Chinese consumers would revolt.

But the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to weigh the strategic choices to counter Washington beyond the mere increase in import duties. China will probably start buying soy and agricultural products from Brazil instead of the US, as it did during the first Trump trade war.

Beijing has also banned the extraction of a handful of rare rare earths required for the manufacture of certain goods. The move to ban the export of all the rare rare earths or the sale of US Treasury bonds will be considered to lead the conflict to the next level.

The But which country has the greatest power In such a conflict it depends on whom you ask. Peter Navarro, Trump’s hawk, has stated that Beijing does not have the luxury of escalating war at this level. Some experts on the other hand say that he is the upper hand, having reinforced his political position inside by gaining more space for maneuvering before he gets involved with Trump.

Matt Potinger, who served as Trump’s National Security Deputy, and Lisa Tobin, who served as his director for China at the National Security Council, described the gap as a “messy separation” and a “zero competition”. The superpowers, they said, fit equally – but have different goals.

“While Trump has taken the upper hand in the trade war, Si gains ground in areas that can be even more important: artificial intelligence, advanced construction and the army required to seize the most important property in the world – Taiwan.”

Clouds from Trump’s first term

While Trump was not in power, after their defeat in the elections in 2020, he often wondered about the shortcomings of the trade agreements he concluded with China during his first term. While enjoying a warm relationship with SI, including a visit to Si to Mar-A-Lago and a dazzling Trump visit to Beijing in 2017, Their cooperation has deteriorated in the last years of his first term.

Trump has complained, as he said, that weak officials have allowed China to deny some agreements he made to buy large quantities of US goods, including agricultural products.

Returning to power, Trump tried to conclude a wider agreement with China that will expand beyond trade and other areas, such as new investments by committing China to buy more US products. The situation, however, became more complicated as the first trade agreement set by the two countries aimed at selling more US products in China has not been expected and the Trump national security team had previously expressed reservations about letting Beijing invest more in the US.

Trump also assumed his duties committing to pressing Fentanyl coming from China to the US. In the early days of his term, Trump imposed a 10% duty on China – along with the endangered and duties in Canada and Mexico – citing the role of Chinese suppliers in Fentanyl.

Shortly after the conversation between Trump and Si in mid -January, the CCP made a proposal to limit the production of fentanyl at the US Embassy in Beijing.

Last week, Beijing presented a more meaningful offer, but it remains to be seen whether Trump would take this proposal seriously as a way to reduce the tariffs that have increased exponentially and dispersed the economies of the two countries.