London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025

Growing nationalism in China could embolden Xi Jinping, says ex-US ambassador

A former U.S. ambassador to China, Max Baucus, told CNBC: “Don’t forget ... Chinese (are) very patient historically, they’ll wait it out, they’ll play lots of different angles. They’re going to try to hang in there, waiting for President Trump to come to them.” A sense of nationalism is growing in China, and that could bolster support for those hoping to wait out the trade dispute with the U.S. There are also trust issues between China and the U.S. as Beijing perceives Trump as unpredictable, said Baucus.

A sense of nationalism is growing in China, and that could bolster support for those hoping to wait out the trade dispute with the U.S., said Max Baucus, a former American ambassador to China.

“Don’t forget … Chinese (are) very patient historically, they’ll wait it out, they’ll play lots of different angles. They’re going to try to hang in there, waiting for President (Donald) Trump to come to them,” he told CNBC on Monday.

“There’s a feeling that nationalism is getting a little stronger … I think that’s also emboldening President Xi,” said Baucus, who served as ambassador to China from February 2014 to January 2017, under former President Barack Obama’s administration.

In fact, the sentiment on the ground in China is that Beijing could be in it “for the long haul,” he said. “The Chinese (are) beginning to want to wait out Trump,” said Baucus. He added that China might be perceiving that the U.S. is in a weaker position — its economy might be worse than current indications, and American farmers appear to be taking a big hit from the tariffs.

China on Sunday imposed additional duties on certain U.S. goods on a $75-billion target list, while U.S. tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese imports also took effect the same day.


Unpredictable Trump

There are also trust issues between the two sides as Beijing perceives Trump as unpredictable, said Baucus.

“From China’s perspective, China ... has a hard time trusting President Trump, who keeps changing his mind. He pulls out the rug from under his negotiators ... The Chinese are afraid to reach a deal with this president — it may not last, they can’t count on it, he might change his mind again,” Baucus said.

“If there’s another administration, they think it might be better in the sense that it’d be more predictable, there’d be less uncertainty. It’d be more standard negotiations,” he continued. U.S. presidential elections are slated to take place in November 2020, with much debate on whether both parties would come to an agreement before the polls.

Earlier this month, Baucus told CNBC that China “can withstand more pain” than the Americans.

His recent comments echoed the sentiment of other analysts, who have said China’s best option is to play the long game — by tapping the power of its domestic economy rather than depending on external trade.

The decline in exports — a result of the trade war — hasn’t made much of a dent in China’s gross domestic product growth, they said. On the other hand, the country’s consumption is increasingly contributing to its economy, they added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
×