Fearing a U.S. tariff barrage, Beijing hopes to use “proactive” tariff cuts and investment offers to peel away American partners in Europe and Asia.

China wants a deal with US President-elect Donald Trump but doesn’t expect the path to an agreement will be easy, according to an adviser to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing.

D onald Trump’s comeback is now certain, after he decisively won re-election to the White House, but there is growing uncertainty over how his second-term administration will deal with the Asia-Pacific—a region of increasing strategic relevance and home to a number of international economic and security concerns for the U.S.

During his campaign, President-elect Trump pledged to decrease military involvement overseas and upend what he described as unfair trade practices.

Shortly after his inauguration in 2017, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal involving many Asian states, signaling his dislike of multilateralism. As President, Trump did not regularly show up at regional summits.