China may look beyond tit-for-tat tariffs in the looming trade war with the United States, analysts say, with a range of creative options at its disposal, including targeting Hollywood films or dragging its feet on North Korea.

Fears of a debilitating trade war between the United States and China are rising after US President Trump said up to $450 billion in Chinese goods — nearly all of its exports to the US — could be in the firing line for higher taxes.

Beijing immediately responded, calling Trump’s threat “blackmail” and warning it could hit back with “strong countermeasures combining quantitative and qualitative measures”.

But with only $130 billion of imports from the US last year, how would China hit back?

“Retaliation has to be done, if you don’t retaliate you lose even more, so that’s why you have a trade war,” said Yukon Huang, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has discussed the trade tensions with top Chinese officials.

Other countries have learned from Japan’s experience, Huang said, alluding to the Asian giant’s historical trade tensions with the US, which cooled off only after Tokyo accepted quotas on exports to the US, reduced its import tariffs and allowed its currency to appreciate.