Language Expressive Means and Axiological Strategies in Media Texts on the issues of Donald Trump's Trade Wars between the US and China

Lobanova Tatiana Nikolaevna ORCID: 0000-0003-4901-3251 Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Indo-European and Oriental Languages, State University of Education; Director of the Regional Center for Chinese Language and Chinese Studies, GUP Malaya Borodinskaya str., 1, sq. 1, Mytishchi, Moscow region, 141031, Russia lobanovaty@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Seredenko Vladimir Mihailovich PhD in Philology Senior Lecturer; Department of Far Eastern Languages; Prince Alexander Nevsky Military University Fonvizinskaya str., 7A, sq. 60, Moscow, 117335, Russia ichi210@mail.ru Other publications by this author

introduction

The relevance of the research lies in the fact that it examines the linguistic means of expression in media texts on the issues of the US-China trade war between Donald Trump in 2025 and identifies the phenomenology of the linguoaxology of military-political discourse (hereinafter referred to as VPD) in the "USA–China" deuce in connection with the US-China tariff war unleashed by Donald Trump, reflected in the materials of modern Chinese-speaking and English-speaking (digital) media. How international relations in the Russia-China-USA triangle will develop in the future largely depends not only on the factors of sanctions management and further militarization/demilitarization ^[2], but also on linguistic factors, where linguistic means of expression and the language of negotiations and agreements play an important role.

The formation of the phenomenology of linguoaxiology is supposed to be studied within the framework of the media political and military-political discourse of the United States and China on the issues of the US-China trade war. The formation of the phenomenology of linguoaxiology is supposed to be studied within the framework of the military-political discourse in the "USA-China" dual and the American-Chinese trade war. The trade war between the United States and China continues to be the focus of global news, and the Chinese and American media are carefully analyzing its consequences for the global economy. With the recent increase in tariffs from the United States for the whole world, the situation is becoming increasingly tense.

An escalation of the trade conflict between the United States and China could cause serious damage to supply chains to both China and the United States, with unpredictable consequences. The trade war between the United States and China continues to be the focus of global news, and the Chinese and American media are carefully analyzing its consequences for the global economy. With the recent increase in tariffs from the United States for the whole world, the situation is becoming increasingly tense.

In the confrontation between the United States and China in the economic sphere, Z. Brzezinski pointed out that "China's official position also reflects an obvious cultural hostility to US-supported globalization." <...> "Paradoxically, it is China's commitment to globalization, rather than opposition to it, that can become an obstacle to the global economic dominance of the United States" ^{[2, p. 200]}. Obviously, due to this factor, China is calmly reacting to the tariffs imposed by D. Trump in 2025. The study of linguistic issues of the phenomenology of Donald Trump's political rhetoric in modern Chinese-language and English-language (digital) media sources in terms of the use of linguistic means of expression on the issues of the 2025 trade war in line with linguoaxological paradigmatics and media discourse is an integral part of the theory of language, translation studies, discourse and media communications, and related applied humanitarian fields of scientific knowledge.

METHODOLOGY, MATERIAL AND RESEARCH METHODS

The article is devoted to the study of linguistic means of expression in media texts on the issues of the US-China trade war between Donald Trump in 2025, as well as the phenomenology of linguoaxology of the military-political discourse of the USA and China in line with the anthropological paradigm. The study of the functioning of Donald Trump's language and the discursive practices he uses in political media rhetoric is the most relevant area of modern fundamental and applied linguistics.

The theoretical basis of the research was the work of the authors, who are devoted to the problems of discourse in the Chinese-speaking and English-speaking media segment. ^[1],[5],[9], the authors' concepts on pragmalinguistics and linguoaxiology ^[5],[6],[7], as well as work on the study of strategies and tactics of D. Trump's speech influence ^[4] and others .

The interdisciplinary approach will shed light on the nature of the military-political media discourse of the United States and China, highlight its essential nature, trace discursive practices and analyze linguistic means of expression in media materials. The term "military-political discourse" is associated with terms nominating other types of discourses (political, media, mass media, rhetorical), which scientists consider in various studies. Thus, political rhetoric is often correlated with rhetorical discourse or mass media rhetorical discourse ^[1]. Patriotic rhetoric can also serve as a research subject or focus in the analysis of rhetorical discourse. In addition, it is possible to study culturally specific discursive practices of implementing Chinese patriotic rhetoric in a comparative aspect in different languages and to establish rhetorical strategies taking into account different addressees.

The purpose of the article is to study the linguistic means of expression in media texts on the issues of the US-China trade war between Donald Trump in 2025 using a functional approach (in media and military-political discourse). From the point of view of semiotics, any sign structure can be considered as a text if this structure has a holistic meaning and a holistic function. Accordingly, we isolate the digital media text of Chinese and English (American) military-political discourse as a unit of analysis when identifying and studying linguistic means of expression in the materials of modern Chinese-speaking and English-speaking (digital) media.

Publications of Chinese-language and English-language media sources served as the material for the selection of digital media texts.:The South China Morning Post, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, etc. The empirical basis was made up of analytical media publications on the subject of Donald Trump's tariff and trade wars with China in 2025. A total of 30 publications and posts were reviewed. Chronologically, the sample is limited to the start of the trade war in 2025.

LINGUISTIC MEANS OF EXPRESSION IN MEDIA TEXTS ON TRADE WARS IN 2025

The leader of the nation, Donald Trump, as a publicly speaking politician in modern geopolitical conditions, strives to effectively use the expressive possibilities of language in order to convince the audience of the correctness of his course, ideas and create a positive image of his personality. The choice of linguistic means of expression by both politicians and analysts in media publications cannot be accidental: they are the result of a combination of restraint, self-confidence along with emotions and assessments. In this article, expression is referred to as "the range of shades expressed by a word" ^{[3, p. 25]}. Considering the modern achievements of linguistic science, we consider it advisable to include extralinguistic artifacts in the framework of a specific discourse in the "expression".

Studying the strategies and tactics of D. Trump's speech behavior, researcher D. S. Galchuk emphasizes that Trump, "appealing to the values of Americans, mentions in his posts topics such as stopping the growth of crime, increasing wages and economic growth, getting rid of loopholes in the laws. As a paraverbal means, the capitalization technique (capital letters) is used: LAWFUL. This is how Trump focuses the attention of the collective addressee on the fact that everything will be within the law. Relying also on the tactics of unity, the president introduces Americans into his circle (cf. E. I. Sheigal's category of alienity) by means of the personal pronoun we and the adverb together or with your help" ^{[4, p. 33]}.

The main strategies of the political discourse of the President of the United States D. Trump's strategies of self-presentation, discrediting, self-defense, and campaigning. Each strategy is represented by a number of tactics implemented through certain markers at the lexico-semantic, lexico-grammatical and syntactic levels, which ensures that the addressee achieves pragmatic communication goals. Synchronously, strategies work to convince the electorate of the correctness of a politician's course ^{[4, p. 33]}.

From the point of view of the dynamics of media discourse implementation, the linguo-axiological component (axiological strategy) consists in the consistent application of discursive practices in analyzing the trade war in 2025, in this case, the topic of US-Chinese tariffs, based on the communicative and discursive positions of the speaker/writer in the media. D. Trump's means of expression are used moderately and in a balanced manner. The article discusses expressive means of various language levels.

Example 1. In the article “Trump inserts himself into Japan tariff talks as China's Xi seeks Asia deals" [Trump gets involved in tariff negotiations in Japan, while Chinese leader Xi seeks deals in Asia] media publication The South China Morning Post (English-language Hong Kong edition) ^[10] reveals the following range of techniques and linguistic means of expression characterizing the language of Chinese (English-speaking) media discourse on the subject of American-Chinese and US-Asian trade wars:

1) visualization of the size of US tariffs against Asian partners in the format of infographics in a media publication (see Fig. 1):

Fig. 1. Visual series – infographics in the media publication “Trump inserts himself into Japan tariff talks as China's Xi seeks Asia deals" ^[10]

2) emotionally imaginative and provocative effect on the reader through the use of comparison, periphrasis and metaphors: “US President Donald Trump on Wednesday inserted himself directly into trade talks with Japanese officials, a sign of the high stakes for the United States after its tariffs rattled the economy and caused the administration to assure the public that it would quickly reach deals." [" U.S. President Donald Trump was directly involved in trade talks with Japanese officials on Wednesday, signaling high stakes for the United States after its tariffs rocked the economy and forced the administration to reassure the public that it would reach agreements quickly.»];

3) using the capitalization technique (capital letters) as a paraverbal tool: “Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!” Trump wrote in the social media post. ["I hope we can work out something good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!" Trump wrote on his social network. » ];

4) a hypertext "pop-up" window ^[8] "US-China Trade War" ["US-China Trade War"] with the ability to click on links to the most relevant publications on this issue; using the caricature technique (see Fig. 2):

Rice. 2. Visualization of the 2025 trade war in an electronic editionThe South China Morning Post ^[10] and a cartoon in a media publication ^[13]

Example 2. In the article “Trumponomics Is a Delusion” published in the media edition of The New York Times [Trumponomics is a delusion] ^[11], which carries an economic agenda, we find the following linguistic means of expression:

1) innovative nomination of the Trump economic model:

"Trumponomics" [Trumponomics];

2) quoting statements from Trump's speeches as an argument for criticism by journalists and analysts of what is happening: “America is being ripped off,” he said later. "We're a debtor nation, and we have to tax, we have to tariff, we have to protect this country." ["America is being ripped off," he said later. "We are a debtor nation, and we have to pay taxes, we have to levy tariffs, we have to protect this country."] ^[11] ;

3) visualization of a political metaphor (see Fig. 3):

3. Visualization of political metaphors in The New York Times

As can be seen from the analysis examples above, in the US media, political metaphors of the image of the "Trade Wars and the 2025 Economy" case can be visualized and supported not only in news or general articles, but also in serious specialized publications.

Chinese-language media demonstrate means of expression to a much greater extent.: This is due to the censorship of direct nominations and the abundance of metaphorization tools in Chinese political media discourse (linguistic and visual).

Example 3. In situazioni article《中美贸易战2025：硝烟再起，中国为何敢“硬刚”？》^[12] [Trade war between China and the US 2025: back to the smoke (of weapons). Why is China taking a "tough" stance? the media text of Chinese political discourse is characterized by the following stylistic means:

1) the abundance of metaphors, comparisons and periphrase: “贸易战没有赢家，但中国已证明“尊严只能靠斗争赢得” 特朗普的“梭哈式冒险”暴露了美国霸权的焦虑，而中国以“反制铁拳”向世界证明：妥协换不来尊重，唯有实力才能赢得平等对话权。” [There is no winner in the trade war, but China has proven that "credibility can only be gained in the fight." "Trump's gamble in the card game format highlighted US concerns about hegemony, and China, with its iron fist of resistance, proved to the whole world that "compromise cannot be exchanged for respect." The Chinese "iron fist of counteraction" proves to the whole world that compromise cannot be exchanged for respect, but only by force can the right to an equal dialogue be won].

2) Argumentation of statistics using stylistic means of expression:：

- 稀土武器：全球95%稀土精炼产能掌握在中国手中，F-35战机生产线库存仅能维持11个月，若断供将重创美国军工。

- 产业狙击：大豆、飞机等关税针对共和党票仓，16家美企被列入实体清单，特斯拉上海工厂扩建计划被迫暂停。” [China's "precision strike" strategy. Chinese counter-measures are hitting the US in a sore spot:

- Rare earth weapons: 95% of the world's rare earth processing capacity is in the hands of China, stocks of F-35 fighter jets will only last for 11 months, if supplies are stopped, it will hit the US military industry.

- Industrial snipers: tariffs on soybeans, airplanes, and more are targeted against the Republican electorate; 16 American companies have been blacklisted, and Tesla's plans to expand its Shanghai plant have been suspended.

Example 4. In a Chinese-language article:[14 ] [China is winning a brilliant victory in the tariff war, according to foreign media: [the United States has published a list of duty-free goods] the media text of Chinese political discourse is characterized by the following stylistic means:

1) a rhetorical question, an exclamation: 可不是！正因为咱们中国毫不退让的反击，才让特朗普最后扛不住了。中国对特朗普发动的关税战进行了强有力的反制，真的是牛啊，最后特朗普也只好妥协了。外媒曝光了美国海关发布的豁免清单，嘿，你猜怎么着？中国的关税也被美国给免掉了。[But no! It was thanks to China's relentless counterattack that Trump failed to win in the end. China's decisive rebuff to the tariff war unleashed by Trump was really "bullish": in the end, Trump had to compromise. Foreign media have published a list of exemptions issued by the US Customs Service, and you know what? Chinese duties were also excluded by the US.].

Example 5. In ^[14] [China is winning a brilliant victory in the tariff war, foreign media report: [the United States has published a list of duty-free goods] the means of expression are rhetorical questions from the audience and the method of personification: 这句话让很多国家都怒了，谁不知道你们美国的船只好、港口多。靠着这些好船，你能省下多少运输费用啊？那么多港口，走多少港口能分到钱呀？就这样，你还想把关税搞得和别人一样，真有意思。那你干脆把港口让给我们，我们的关税低你十一个百分比，甚至二十个，看看效果如何。[This statement has angered many countries that do not know that you, the United States, have high-quality ships and many harbors. With such ships, how much can you save on transportation costs? How many ports can you share? That's it! Do you want your rates to be the same as everyone else's? This is ridiculous. Why don't you just give us these ports, and our tariffs will be eleven percent lower, or even twenty? Let's see what happens!].

Thus, in the Chinese speech culture, media linguistic means of expression are represented to a large extent. The culturally determined features of the Chinese-speaking and English-speaking rhetoric of China's media and military-political discourse on the issues of the US-China trade wars in 2025 differ somewhat in terms of the use of linguistic means of expression: Chinese-language media is more stylistically diverse and richer. Linguistic means of expression are presented in several forms: 1) metaphor; 2) comparisons, periphrasis, personification and opposition; 3) national narratives; 4) stable expressions; 5) precedent phenomena, etc.

Russian Russian research has also revealed that a fairly large number of Chinese linguistic means of expression are lacunary; their semantics are determined by Chinese phraseological units, toponyms, and anthroponyms: they are often quite difficult to translate into Russian using a literal translation or to find an equivalent without a descriptive translation due to differences in the national and cultural specifics of the Russian and Chinese peoples.

Conclusion

Trump's strategy may seem chaotic and full of mistakes. There is a whole culture of mistakes in American political culture. The bottom line is that if the error is minor, if it doesn't cost too much to fix it later, then it's easier to fix it than not to make mistakes at all. Trump is the bearer of this culture. Therefore, what may seem like a strategy full of mistakes is actually an axiological guideline of American political culture at this historical stage: just probing the situation using the "poke" method: we tried here — it didn't work, we retreat, we try further.

This study shows that linguistic means of expression reflect linguoculture as a whole; their functioning in media texts of political discourse is determined by certain factors: 1) tradition and ritual, the presence of mythological symbols; 2) the need to create author's metaphors or periphrases due to the institution of Chinese censorship; 3) the need to nominate political phenomena in the media segment for American and Chinese society, etc. The political media discourse of China and the United States uses stylistic means, lofty vocabulary and linguistic means of expression to form a positive or negative media image of the subject (Donald Trump) and his policy in general for both domestic consumers (in China) and foreign consumers of media content. This is a kind of example of how the correct use of language tools and techniques helps to attract a media audience and involve it in a political media discourse. The study also demonstrated that the English-speaking political media discourse tends towards stylistic neutrality, while the Chinese political media segment skillfully uses linguistic means of expression to communicate and form an emotional connection with its audience.