By closing the loopholes, the Trump administration is signalling what any future deal with China might look like. The 40% tariff on transshipped goods suggests that even if tariffs on China are eventually reduced, they’re unlikely to fall significantly below that threshold.

China knocked the newly announced U.S. trade deal with Vietnam, saying Beijing “firmly opposes” any deal that disadvantages its economy and pledged to take “countermeasures” to protect its own

The trade truce between Washington and Beijing may be holding for now, but China is increasingly wary about what’s happening elsewhere: US efforts to forge deals that could isolate Chinese firms from global supply chains.