Background. (I need it because I don’t understand what the strategy is.)

https://www.bespacific.com/trump-has-long-misled-with-claims-about-global-trade-and-tariffs/

Trump Has Long Misled With Claims About Global Trade and Tariffs

The New York Times no paywall: “President Trump has taken a whipsaw approach to tariffs, widening and shifting course in determining which countries and goods will be subject to them. But across Mr. Trump’s political career, his case for tariffs has remained consistent, relying on a number of false and misleading claims to describe a global trade system that is “unfair” to the United States. Although Mr. Trump abruptly announced on Wednesday that he would pause steep reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, a 10 percent “base line” tariff remains in place for most imports. Here’s a guide to some of his most cited claims…”

(Related)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/retaliatory-tariffs-again/

Retaliatory Tariffs? Again?

President Trump’s recent tariffs show no familiarity with history, and little reassurance for those who hoped he understood capitalism and freedom.

(Related)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjew7y4j724o

Why Beijing is not backing down on tariffs

In response to why Beijing is not backing down to Donald Trump on tariffs, the answer is that it doesn't have to.

China's leaders would say that they are not inclined to cave in to a bully – something its government has repeatedly labelled the Trump administration as – but it also has a capacity to do this way beyond any other country on Earth.

Before the tariff war kicked in, China did have a massive volume of sales to the US but, to put it into context, this only amounted to 2% of its GDP.