Tariff War Drives China to the Brink, Yuan Devaluation Fails to Save the Economy

At Shanghai port, once a busy hub, the cargo ships now look like ghosts. Routes to the US are nearly shut down, with capacity dropping by 40%, and bookings plummeting by 63.5%.
At Wuhu’s Huangnitian anchorage, there are ships everywhere with no place to go.
Meanwhile, the yuan is depreciating quickly, falling nearly 10% against the euro in just one month, and the financial market is unstable.
On the streets, there are fewer people, and shops are closing down or being transferred. Economic vitality is slowly fading.
The Economist Intelligence Unit predicts that if Trump raises tariffs by 60%, China’s GDP growth will lose 2.5 percentage points between 2025 and 2027. This has led to the rise of the "yuan depreciation theory," with many seeing it as the lifeline for China’s foreign trade. But is this really the solution or a poison pill? A simple market rule tells us: not all problems can be solved by printing money.