"China does not want a trade war, but China is not afraid of a trade war," the country's commerce ministry said in a statement Friday. At the time, many analysts put this shift in attitude down to personal rapport between Trump and Xi, and Washington's desire for China's assistance in tackling the North Korea issue which has dogged Trump since his election. "They are helping us a lot in North Korea," Trump said. "If North Korea came to heel, China could take credit for it, if North Korea misbehaved that took the attention away from China's own strategic challenges in the South China Sea and the Taiwan straits. "Trump has made the denuclearization of North Korea his signature foreign-policy initiative," he wrote Tuesday.

Source: CNN March 23, 2018 05:48 UTC