In South American copper giant Peru, the incoming Donald Trump White House will find itself already on the losing side in a trade battle with China, part of a bigger power realignment around the resource-rich region in Washington's backyard.

The Chinese economy is more dependent on exports, making tariffs more potent, yet it’s less reliant on American markets and increasingly bent on self-sufficiency.

Could the tariffs Trump's threatened to slap on Chinese imports backfire and help Beijing? Some experts say they will.