Since Trump’s first term, they have been adapting their approach to the United States, and they have spent the past three months further developing their strategy to anticipate, counter, and minimize the damage of Trump’s volatile policymaking.

• Trump’s latest threat to stop sending money to South Africa because of racist conspiracy theories about the supposed disenfranchisement of white Afrikaners.

Beijing announced tariffs on Tuesday on some American imports including crude oil, agricultural machinery and liquefied natural gas, in retaliation for the Trump administration’s imposition of 10% tariffs on Chinese imports into the United States.