Political analyst admits US and China will tighten mutual sanctions after Trump's inauguration

After the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, Washington and Beijing may tighten mutual sanctions - the countries' relations are more likely to worsen. Against this background, the media information that Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend Trump's inauguration ceremony looks plausible and logical. Denis Denisov, an expert of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, shared this opinion with Izvestia on December 13.

The day before, CBS News TV channel, citing sources, reported that Trump had invited his Chinese counterpart to his inauguration. Then journalists specified that at Trump's inauguration instead of Xi Jinping will be present a delegation from the PRC. The Chinese ambassador to Washington and his wife are expected to attend the event.

"This, as far as I understand, is not the official position, but still according to sources, but it is, in principle, quite logical. The fact is that the presence of heads of state at the inauguration of a US president is the exception rather than the rule. We know that such a format has not been practiced in the last few decades," Denisov commented.

He explained that for Trump, Xi Jinping's presence at the ceremony is symbolic, as the Republican Party perceives Beijing as its main adversary. Beijing, in turn, understands this and is not going to be on the second role in relations with Washington.

"As we know from Trump's previous presidency, relations [between China and the US] will be extremely difficult. <...> There have already been a number of initiatives from both Trump himself and his entourage, including those related to restricting trade with China. And given the trends of the past few years, we should probably expect a new round, new activity in the field of sanctions," added the interlocutor of the publication.

Thus, he suggested, new anti-China restrictions may be one of Trump's first decisions after taking office as head of state. The next five years for China and the United States will be a test of each other's strength, power and endurance, concluded the political scientist.

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Earlier, on November 30, Trump said that Washington would impose a duty of 100% on goods from BRICS states if they created their own currency. He demanded that they stop trying to replace the dollar or "say goodbye to sales" in the US. Alexei Pushkov, head of the Federation Council's commission on information policy, called Trump's threat unrealizable. Liu Pengyu, China's official representative in Washington, noted that the USA uses the dollar as a geopolitical tool, it harms global stability and order.

Then, on December 2, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US dollar is losing its attractiveness for many countries and Washington will not be able to prevent this process with pressure.

On the intentions to fight for the preservation of the status of the dollar, Trump has repeatedly expressed before. In September, he also promised voters to impose 100 percent duties on goods from those countries that would abandon the U.S. currency, and in March he said that dedollarization would be a serious loss for the United States.