For those who oppose tariffs as being big and bad, whats the alternative? Something has to be done. Does everyone just want to sit and admit defeat? Give me a break. And when is there a better time to address this? When the economy is in the shitter and unemployment higher? There really isn't any other time to address this than when the economy is near full employment. Some might say even with a shortage of workers.
And for those that think China has too much of a hand to go up against, remember what keeps Xi up at night. It is not Taiwan, the South China Sea, nukes in North Korea, India, or even the US. Its creating jobs. China needs a massive amount of people employed. They have also taken on an massive amount of debt and masterfully forced companies in the same sectors to provide loans to other less efficient companies to keep the whole thing afloat. Throw in higher housing costs, people migrating from rural areas to the cities, and you have one massive bomb ready to set off. Its one thing to have to pay higher prices for things, as you can opt to just not buy them, but its another to have to hope that others buy your products to keep your system afloat. And if those jobs get lost, and the government can no longer get away with lying on how good its doing, its going to scare a lot of people in the chinese government, who btw, have never experienced any kind of major economic downturn after a rise they have had. That is why they are coming around to allowing for foreign investment in China. Do you really think they want any of us there? Hell no. They are doing it to help bring money into their system, not just to absorb the debt, but to also make up for the massive amounts of money leaving China.
So when they say they do not want a trade war, believe them. Everything they have built and are doing hangs on stability. We're more chaotic and used to the ups and downs.