Trade war between the United States and China escalated on August 23, when the U.S. government levied 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods, up from the previous rate of 10 percent. China responded in equal measure, implementing 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of American products.

Currently, the dispute affects roughly 17 percent of trade between China and the U.S. The most recent American tariffs apply to items such as semiconductors, plastics and chemicals. China places a special emphasis on producing these products under its “Made in China 2025” plan. Chinese tariffs apply to American exports such as aviation fuels, scrap copper and vehicles.

After the tariffs were announced, China’s Commerce Ministry called the U.S. “obstinate.” U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross responded, “[A]t the end of the day, we have many more bullets than they do. They know it. We have a much stronger economy than they have. They know that too.”

For the short term, it is quite possible that America will win. America’s economy is larger and members of China’s ruling party are already facing significant criticism from those within their own circle. For now, it looks like an American victory. But even if America wins the trade battle, it will not win the trade war.

For many years, China has been trying to get the better of America economically, militarily and technologically. Only now has an American president attempted to confront the issue. The National Review wrote:

We have learned that Chinese espionage agents have been deeply buried within the U.S. hierarchy, from Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s former limousine driver of some 20 years to Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former [Central Intelligence Agency] agent recently arrested and charged with exposing U.S. contacts and sources inside China.

China knows how to play the long game, and there is no sign that it plans to stop competing against the West. Though limited right now, trade wars against the U.S. will intensify to the point where the nation will fall under a dangerous economic siege.

The Bible forecasts exactly the kind of trade war we see building right now. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry describes this in his free book Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet:

The Holy Roman Empire, along with the kings of the east (the Asian nations), will cause economic problems and bring on destruction in many ways “until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee” [Deuteronomy 28:52]. The real pressure is coming from without. “In all thy gates” refers to a trade war.

Since the days of Herbert W. Armstrong, editor in chief of the Plain Truth—predecessor of the Trumpet—we have closely watched the rise of the Chinese to superpower status and the simultaneous decline of the Western democracies of the U.S., Britain and Israel.

To learn how these prophecies will affect you and how this present age of wars will finally come to an end, request our free books Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet and Mr. Armstrong’s The United States and Britain in Prophecy.