The escalating USA trade war must be seen as part of a much wider US push-back against a rising China, and indeed much of the global system that is considered not to be acting in the American interest. For China, this raises concerns over the impact on its economy and highly integrated domestic and international efforts, not least its flagship One Belt, One Road (OBOR), related Asian and Eurasian regionalisation and institution building, and the critical – and markedly improving relations with key players in these developments (Dixon and Slavic 2018). Although a sudden about-face by Trump culminating in a comprehensive deal between the US and China should not be ruled out, as things currently stand, more likely is a significant intensification of American actions during 2019.