Steeling China for a Tariff Fight, Xi Faces His Biggest Test Since Covid

For the two men at the forefront of a trade war that has begun to rupture ties between the world’s biggest economies, the question has become who will blink first.

On one side is President Trump, who unleashed a disruptive plan to transform the modern global trading system with tariffs — only to back down hours after it took effect, pausing the import duties for every country but China.

On the other side is Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, who has a well-earned reputation for refusing to yield. He stuck to China’s tight Covid restrictions long past the point where they were working. He pressed ahead with his goal of making China the world’s leader in electric vehicles and solar panels, despite alarm from trading partners about the flood of cheap exports.

Now, as Mr. Xi faces what could be the biggest test of his leadership since the pandemic, he has been true to form. On Friday, his government escalated its response to Mr. Trump, raising tariffs on U.S. imports to 125 percent, despite concerns that a prolonged trade war could deepen China’s economic malaise. Before that announcement, Mr. Xi struck a confident note in his first public comments about the trade showdown.

“There will be no winners in a tariff war, and going against the world will only isolate oneself,” Mr. Xi said while hosting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain in Beijing, without explicitly mentioning Mr. Trump or the United States.

“For more than 70 years, China has always relied on self-reliance and hard work for development,” Mr. Xi continued. “It has never relied on anyone’s gifts and is unafraid of any unreasonable suppression.”