U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump takes office again promising tariffs that could ratchet up tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

The European Union is debating whether to drop a sensitive trade investigation against China over alleged coercive activity targeting Lithuania, a prospect that’s frustrated officials in Washington, where the incoming Trump team sees it as capitulation to Beijing.

Correcting the major imbalances in the global economy will require collaborative international action. If he wants results, Trump will need to rein in his penchant to go it alone.

Donald Trump has touted tariffs as high as 60%. But China’s domestic tech sector may be insulated against such measures.

On the eve of Donald Trump’s White House return, the Chinese government announced that last year it recorded a trade surplus of almost $1 trillion, a third of which was with the US.

Trump, who will be inaugurated next week, has threatened the EU with tariffs and his team has criticized the bloc for being weak on China. The manner in which the EU handles the dispute will present an early test of how the world approaches trade under the new administration in Washington and the resilience of the transatlantic relationship.

Bloomberg reporters answer questions about how Trump’s promises to raise tariffs on China could lead to a trade war with global consequences.

China’s vast exports in 2024 exceeded its imports on a scale seldom seen anywhere except during or immediately after the two world wars.

Trade between the world’s two largest economies is on the brink of chaos again. The outgoing Biden administration has turned up the heat in its final days, handing Trump a loaded gun in the form of sweeping restrictions directed at Beijing.

Even before Donald Trump takes office on Monday, trade tensions between the world’s biggest economies are already heating up.