China “would start replacing the U.S. in the role of keeping Russia out of the Eastern Flank,” Gabrielius Landsbergis, the former Lithuanian foreign minister, recently posted on X. European Union members “in the East would be dependent on China’s protection and the racketeering would spread West.”

U.S. officials are considering whether they can strike a deal with China that would ramp up its purchases of American goods and investments in the United States.

President Trump had previously imposed an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese imports, resulting in retaliatory tariffs from China.