Any trade war between the US and China would have dire consequences on either side, but the Asian giant is likely to weather such a storm better, asserts Winter Nie in The Hill. Boeing and Apple are two large American companies that rely heavily on Chinese consumers. Any interference would affect their bottom lines dramatically. Meanwhile, China is increasingly catering to consumers in Asian, South American and African countries for its biggest industries like electronics. The US economy simply depends more on China than vice versa. A trade war would see prices skyrocket and do significant damage to American businesses.

The notion that China would have the upper hand in any potential trade war with the US is wrong, argues Gordon G. Chang of The Daily Beast. America’s economy is still significantly bigger and buys more Chinese products than the other way around. In short, it can do a lot more economic damage by purchasing elsewhere instead. The trade surplus between the two countries strongly favors China, so any changes would hurt its profits. The US economy is more stable and likely growing faster, as China is rumored to overstate its performance. A real trade war would hurt the latter far more than the former of the two countries.