In the summer of 2018, when former President Donald Trump launched a trade war with Beijing, the Chinese economy was gaining on the United States, and popular opinion suggested it could soon become the world’s largest.

China is ready for dialogue with the United States. President-elect Donald Trump announced the introduction of high tariffs on Chinese products. According to experts, tariffs on Chinese imports might reduce the growth of the world's second-largest economy by 1 percentage point.

Higher tariffs on Chinese exports will backfire, just increasing prices paid by consumers, while China can manage to weather the effects of such "external shocks," a senior Commerce Ministry official said Friday in Beijing.

For the second largest economy, China, a big source of concern is tariffs against Chinese products. During the campaign trail, Trump had stated that he would impose at least 60% tariffs on Chinese imports and 20% tariffs on imports from all other countries.