A trade 'war' is a misconception. Better to call it a trade 'battle'. The reason is that after the opening exchange, the one who is worst effective typically beings to work on breaking their dependence so they have the option to stop trading with the aggressor if it is in their benefit. In other words, if you pay for a monthly service and despite you not paying your entire balance you kept receiving this service, it would be in the provider's best interest for them to convince you to bring your balance current. Otherwise, if the provider pushed to hard or cut you off, they would lose the potential not only for further profit but to recover that which was past due. Trump can squeeze China in the short-term but the longer this continues, the more China begins to diversify and the stronger their hand becomes.