Over the past week economists have been dusting off forecasting models drawn up last year when US president Donald Trump first threatened to tax about half of all Chinese imports at 25 per cent.

Most analysts estimate that the latest tariffs, which were first scheduled to be imposed on January 1 but then delayed until last Friday, will have a significant impact on already slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy if fully implemented in about three weeks and not superseded by a trade agreement later this month or next.

But Chinese officials and experts continue to project confidence that their political and economic system will weather an all-out trade war better than the US. After wrapping up a fruitless 11th round of formal trade talks in Washington last week, vice-premier Liu He vowed that neither his negotiating team nor the Chinese people would “flinch” in the face of higher US tariffs. On Monday, China hit back at the US with additional tariffs on $60bn worth of US goods.