“We know that the relationship will never be the same again,” Joly said at NATO headquarters, where she was attending a meeting of allied foreign ministers. “That's my message to Europeans, the relationship with the U.S. will never be the same.”

What liberation day has shown us is that the Chinese-American relationship has entered a stage of protracted competition, a phase that Beijing has been preparing for over the past decade. Faced with a choice between humiliation on the international stage or economic disaster at home, it would appear neither side is willing to back down.