Escalating trade war between the two biggest economies in the world, China and the United States, US may take a new twist as the China Leader, Xi Jinping on Friday for the first time issued a public statement in reaction to President Donald Trump continuous issuance of apparently outrageous self imposed tariffs on goods exported by other countries to the US, with the President stating clearly to Trump that China is not afraid of US, this is in addition to Jinping earlier statement he issued on November 5, 2018 during the first tenure of President Donald Trump that the Chinese economy is an ocean and not a pond, that China economy can withstand strong winds and storms.

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping stated this on Friday when he attended a bilateral meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at Diaoyutai Guest House in Beijing.

The Chinese President Xi Jinping also urged the European Union on Friday to join hands with Beijing in resisting what he described as “unilateral bullying”, as reported by the Chinese state media.

Jinping said his nation is “not afraid,” in his first public comment on the escalating trade war with the United States that has tanked international markets and fueled fears of a global recession, according to CNN.

“There are no winners in a trade war, and going against the world will only lead to self-isolation,” Xi stated this before the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez in Beijing on Friday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“For over 70 years, China’s development has relied on self-reliance and hard work — never on handouts from others, and it is not afraid of any unjust suppression,” Xi added.

“Regardless of how the external environment changes, China will remain confident, stay focused, and concentrate on managing its own affairs well.

On November 5, 2018 at the first China International Trade Import and Export meeting in Shanghai, Jinping while employing some sense of metaphor had said that “The Chinese economy is not a pond, but an ocean”.

Adding that with unwavering confidence and resilience, China with its vast ocean—can withstand strong winds and storms while navigating the chill of trade headwinds.

According to Jinping, strong winds and storms can upset a pond and not an ocean.

Stressing that, an ocean may have its calm days, with expectations of strong winds and storms to remain what it is.

Explaining further that an ocean has experienced several strong winds and storms and yet still remains where it is, saying, China has encountered numerous trials and tribulations, and the country still remains intact and making more progress economically.

It would be recalled that the economic conflict between China and the United States has been ongoing since January 2018, when the US President, Donald Trump began setting tariffs and other trade barriers on China with the goal of forcing it to make changes to what the US under Trump leadership said to be longstanding unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft during his first tenure in office as the US President.

Shortly after taking over office for the second time as the US President in January 2025, Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariff on China goods, with China retaliating with the same measure, forcing the two countries to escalate the hike in tariffs to a higher outrageous amounts above 100 percent.

Former United Kingdom, UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown in an article published in the The Guardian newspaper, said that;”It seems barely credible that the world is being brought to its knees by one economy, outside of which live 96% of the population, who produce 84% of the world’s manufactured goods.

But even though US officials have previously talked of a tariff policy of “escalate to de-escalate”, Donald Trump’s aim is to force manufacturing back to the US, and his 90-day relaxation of some tariffs does not mean he intends to defuse the crisis.

Coordinated multilateral action is essential if Britain is to secure the export-led growth we need.

That growth will be turbocharged by refocusing industrial policy on boosting internationally competitive sectors – from life sciences and AI, to the energy transition and the creative industries.

Promoting such world-beating clusters requires us, as the chancellor has said, to invest more heavily in research and development and high-level skills.

But it also demands that we champion a pro-competition regime that does not favour the tech giants at the expense of their smaller UK competitors, or dilute copyright and intellectual property laws so vital to creative talent.

It is not only the multilateral economic system that is under assault, but every single pillar of the rules-based order, from respect for the law to the self-determination of nations and historic commitments to humanitarian aid.

Indeed, we are seeing a simultaneous breakdown in economic and geopolitical orders.

In a follow-up article, I will suggest how we might build a new order out of what are fast becoming the ruins of the old. But first, we need to show that the world can act together to support people’s living standards.

Doing so will demonstrate the fundamental principles at stake: that international cooperation is in our collective interests, and that a zero-sum world of competing nationalisms leaves us all poorer and less secure”.