It might as well be, except for the theater of it.

“Given that, at the current tariff level, U.S. exports to China are no longer commercially viable, China will not respond to any further tariff hikes by the U.S. on Chinese goods,” the ministry said.

The U.S’ tactics of weaponizing tariffs have become “a joke,” it said in a statement.

“If the U.S. keeps playing the numbers game of tariffs, China will ignore it,”