Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed President Donald Trump has the upper hand in tariffs against China because the U.S. buys more of its products than the Chinese buy American. Lutnick’s analysis comes weeks after China filed a lawsuit against the U.

China’s economy has grown impressively over the past several decades. It is now unquestionably the world’s second largest, and it has become far more innovative than it once was. But it is not nearly as mighty as commonly purported in part because Beijing directly manipulates key economic metrics, including GDP.