China is reportedly conducting a global diplomatic campaign to oppose President Donald Trump’s new trade deals with US allies. According to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, Beijing is trying to reframe itself as a global rules-based order defender and make other countries see Washington as an unreliable trading partner.

Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Xi Jinping to call him for discussions about a potential trade deal. But any off-ramp to the economic tensions will likely run through Vice Premier He Lifeng, who is Xi's Sino-American trade tsar.

Standing outside his friend’s cupcake shop, he says Donald Trump’s levies are a sign that America feels threatened by China’s rise. America’s power is declining, he says. “What you feel in today’s world is that hegemony is very hard to achieve.