The US’s agreement to significantly reduce tariffs on Chinese goods shows that it appears to be weaker than Beijing in a long-term competition.

The executive order that President Donald Trump signed in early April imposing a 145% tariff on imports from China has shown the power and influence of US trade policy, as it causes strong fluctuations on a global scale.

The tariff barriers that the US has erected have frozen much of the trade activity between the world’s two leading economies. They have forced US companies to adjust their global operations, importing less from China and more from other countries with lower tariffs. The tariffs have forced a series of Chinese factories to close and pushed some US importers to the brink of bankruptcy.