How will Trump's return affect US-Middle East-China strategic triangle?
As Trump threatens tariffs and harsher policies on Beijing, China could seek to deepen its commercial ties in the Middle East.
Speculating on how US President Donald Trump 2.0 might affect the US-China-Middle East strategic triangle is no straightforward exercise.
With the nomination of Marco Rubio as secretary of state, Mike Waltz as national security adviser and Elise Stefanik as ambassador to the United Nations, the incoming US administration is poised to reinstate maximum pressure on Iran, ramp up support for Israel and confront China.
However, geopolitics is dynamic and uncertainty abounds.
During the campaign, Trump has proposed imposing 10%-20% tariffs on imports from most countries, targeting Chinese imports with much steeper tariffs of 60% or more in a move Patricia M. Kim from the Brookings Institution said would "rapidly pull the US-China relationship into a downward spiral." The majority of some 50 economists recently surveyed by Reuters expects tariffs at a median estimate of 38% on goods from China by early 2025.
