| This week we look at how attitudes toward President Xi Jinping’s government have shifted among businesses and the broader public in China when it comes to the US-China trade war. Back in 2018, when President Donald Trump started the trade fight and global opinion turned against China, Xi came under pressure at home. Some criticized him for casting aside the party’s decades-old “hide-and-bide” strategy — the idea that the country should keep a low profile internationally while quietly building strength. His crackdown on private businesses and markets only deepened the frustration. And when strict Covid lockdowns followed, it pushed many to leave the country altogether. Now, as Trump unleashes 145% tariffs on China, the mood inside the world’s second-largest economy is strikingly different. Yes, there’s still concern (Goldman Sachs estimates 20 million jobs linked to US exports could be at risk) but Trump’s unprecedented economic attack, along with Vice President JD Vance referring to Chinese people as “peasants,” has galvanized support for Xi’s tougher posture toward Washington. State media and propaganda outlets have seized the moment, portraying the US as an external enemy and rallying nationalist sentiment. There’s growing pride in standing up instead of giving in. Our reporters fanned out and spoke with investors, entrepreneurs and government officials across China. While many have felt dispirited in recent years, there’s now a renewed sense of purpose. People are uniting around the idea that yielding to pressure isn’t an option. “Giving in does not provide a path forward, only a dead end,” said James Zhang, an exporter from Ningbo focused on the US market. On the international stage, Beijing is using the trade war to cast itself as a defender of the rules-based order and spreading the message that the US is a “bully” that can’t be trusted. As for Trump’s claim that China will likely “eat” the tariffs? In reality, many Chinese companies are passing those extra costs straight to American shoppers or simply not exporting to the country at all. E-commerce shopping platforms like Temu and Shein have raised prices dramatically as they face hefty tariffs on many of their products. Both sides are likely to feel the strain. US retailers may soon see empty shelves, while China’s already fragile job market could take another hit. On Friday, Beijing said it’s considering the possibility of trade talks with Washington, pointing out that senior US officials have repeatedly expressed their willingness to sit down and discuss tariffs. The real question now is: when will Trump and Xi finally talk? What We’re Reading, Listening to and Watching: - An exclusive on Japan intending to resist Trump efforts to form trade bloc against China
- China asks its drugmakers and hospitals to find US import substitutes
- Which follows how Beijing may exempt some US goods from tariffs
- China is keeping the door open for Hollywood movies despite the trade war
- Apple is set to source billions of US-made chips in supply chain shift
- Listen to how companies can’t hide from tariffs anymore
- And a podcast on Pop Mart, the Chinese toy company defying tariffs
- A Weekly Doc video on what Musk’s 100 days mean for America
President Xi isn’t just focusing on global trade to push back against Trump’s “America First” agenda — he’s also looking to space. China is expanding its ambitions and bringing more partners on board. Through the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), Beijing is offering an alternative to the US-led Artemis Accords, a diplomatic initiative to establish guidelines for exploration of the moon and other parts of space. It wants to get a permanent outpost on the moon by the 2030s, and plans to land Chinese astronauts there around the same time.  A model of the Chang-E 6 lunar probe on display. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg Unlike past space missions that were often seen as symbolic flag-planting exercises, both the US and China are now focused on mapping the moon’s surface for practical purposes — including the possibility of using it as a launchpad for future missions to Mars, which is about 200 times farther away. Private and state-owned Chinese space companies are also playing catch up with Elon Musk’s Starlink by sending low-Earth orbit satellites on their rockets. At a recent international space conference in Shanghai, representatives from just over a dozen countries shared their plans to join upcoming Chinese space missions. Although the China- and Russia-led ILRS has just 13 countries participating — far fewer than the 54 backing Washington’s Artemis Accords — it’s drawing growing interest, especially from nations in the Global South. Thailand will send a scientific payload on the Chang’e-7 mission in 2026 to conduct lunar observations. Pakistan, meanwhile, is preparing to launch a lunar rover on the Chang’e-8 mission and also plans to send its first astronaut to space aboard a Chinese rocket. That interest is fueled in part by China’s rapid progress in space. After being excluded from the International Space Station due to US objections, China built its own space station, sent a probe to the far side of the moon in 2019, and successfully landed a rover on Mars in 2021. “Some people may see this as a race but that’s not important,” said Hernan Merino, a senior official at the Beijing-based Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, which has eight members including his native Peru. “Whoever reaches Mars or any other planet first will be good for humankind.” | 
