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Yet matching the latest U.S. barrage would force China to either levy much higher tariffs or take more disruptive steps like cancelling purchase orders, encouraging consumer boycotts and putting up regulatory hurdles. Not only does that risk provoking Trump to follow through on threats to tax virtually all Chinese products, it could unleash nationalist sentiment on both sides that fuels a deeper struggle for geopolitical dominance.

Trump on Wednesday framed his trade actions as necessary to shield American businesses and farmers from harmful trading practices.

“Other countries’ trade barriers and tariffs have been destroying their businesses. I will open things up, better than ever before, but it can’t go too quickly,” Trump said in a Twitter post from Brussels, where he’s attending a NATO summit. “I am fighting for a level playing field for our farmers, and will win!”

“It’s already past the point of no return,” said Pauline Loong, managing director at research firm Asia-Analytica in Hong Kong. “What’s next is not so much a trade war or even a cold war as the dawn of an ice age in relations between China and the United States.”

Stocks fell, the dollar gained and commodities slid with emerging-market assets Wednesday as investors assessed the fallout. Futures on the S&P 500 were down 0.6 per cent as of 7:14 a.m. in New York and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated 1.1 per cent. While earlier tariffs were expected to have only a limited impact, economists warn a full-blown trade war could derail the strongest economic upswing in years.