November 2017, President Trump became the first foreign dignitary to be hosted in Forbidden City when President Xi broke the tradition. When President Trump concluded his trip to China, he walked away with $250 billion of business deals. Many China hands commented that [President Trump] is “so over-infatuated with his courtship, so hungry to ingratiate himself, and so eager to be bathed in acceptance that he had ended up being taken.”
Two months later, President Trump placed a 30% tariff on foreign solar panels, which China is the world leader. On the same day, he imposed a 20% tariff on washing machines for the first 1.2 million units imported during the year. China was totally caught off-guard. While President Xi has kind of acknowledged Joe Biden as the President-Elect, he has become much cautious. While many Chinese are hopeful that the US-China relationship might improve, they seem to be less certain that such a bilateral relationship will return to what it was before 2017. The Trade War started by President Trump, in my opinion, will not end soon regardless, and it is difficult to expect that the bilateral direct investment will increase in the next year or two. China seems to be searching for the clues about what to expect in the next few years and tries to get ready in such a confusing world. Meanwhile, business continues as the status quo with the priority to get through the curse of the Year of Gengzi