> Can’t China start a new Cold War pretty easily? No need to speculate. Australia pulled this stunt this decade. It's notable enough to get it's own Wikipedia

> Can’t China start a new Cold War pretty easily? No need to speculate. Australia pulled this stunt this decade. It's notable enough to get it's own Wikipedia entry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93China_trade_war https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93China_trad... Australia lost billions in exports. We were treated to the site of ships fully laden with Australian coal queued outside Chinese ports with nowhere to go, and reports of Chinese provinces literally freezing in the dark. It was caused by mind boggingly godsackingly daft behaviour from politicians at the highest levels in both countries. And, surprise surprise, none of it would have happened without a some help from Trump. Three years and a change of Australian government later, and the restrictions are being lifted. It hurt at the time. Some exports like wine and lobsters never did find alternate markets, but most did, and notably Australia didn't suffer a recession after losing it's largest trading partner without warning. I presume China found alternate sources of most things. It would be a higher price of course, just as Australia was forced to accept lower prices. Unsurprisingly both countries look to be very keen to renew normal relations. In fact they mostly have. But very little has changed trade wise because each country has now signed trade agreements that bind them for a year of two, which I guess is testimony to how fluid globalisation is. So back to your question about China starting a trade war. They could, but it would hurt them as much as the other country. It would leave them a little bit poorer, and would not achieve much beyond symbolism.