On a sweltering spring day, workers at a Christmas tree factory in eastern China rhythmically assembled piles of branches, wiping away sweat as they daubed white-paint snow onto plastic pine needles.

Like countless other companies in the manufacturing powerhouse of Zhejiang province, its products are geared largely towards export -- a sector freshly menaced by Donald Trump's roiling of the global economy and increasingly brutal China tariffs.

On Tuesday, the US president raised levies on Chinese goods to 104 percent, before increasing them to 125 percent the next day, later clarifying the cumulative figure at 145 percent.

"At the beginning, there was some pessimism in the industry," Jessica Guo, the factory head, told AFP.

"But in the last two days, we are more united, that is, we feel we cannot be bullied like this. We are willing to get through this difficult phase with the country."

The Chinese government is in fighting mode too, on Friday increasing its own retaliatory duties to 125 percent.

The tit-for-tat could........

© International Business Times