Shortly after Donald Trump met Xi Jinping for the first time at his Florida resort, a senior Chinese government official wondered aloud if the US president’s most important domestic political adviser really saw Beijing as an enemy, let alone the enemy. 

“But Steve Bannon spent years [working] at Goldman Sachs,” the official protested in a conversation with the Financial Times. “He also reads widely and understands history. I don’t think he will be that radical.” 

Last week the ruling Chinese Communist party had its answer. In what turned out to be his swansong interview just before he was fired, Mr Bannon said the US was engaged in a winner-take-all “economic war” with China. He added that he fought “every day” with another Goldman Sachs alumnus, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, and other administration figures who sought a more moderate approach towards dealing with America’s principal geopolitical rival.