A mainland-based political commentator warned of incoming tariffs and trade disputes between China and the United States when Donald Trump moves back into the White House, with Washington's relations with the broader Asia-Pacific region turning frosty.

The incoming US president had previously proposed imposing across-the-board tariffs of between 10 and 20 percent on all imports arriving into the nation, and tariffs of at least 60 percent on Chinese goods.

Trump first launched a trade war with China in 2018.

Einar Tangen, a senior fellow at the Taihe Institute and chairman of Asia Narratives, said another Trump presidency is going to have economic implications because of the Republican's "America First" policy.

But he told RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme that it would have less impact on China than during Trump's first term in office.

"Things have changed dramatically since that period of time. The US had a lot more leverage. Now, China has been growing its trade with the rest of the world at a double-digit pace," he said.

"Quite frankly, the US cannot be decoupled from China, even if they start buying from somewhere else as they have been... the fact is many of the intermediate goods are still manufactured in China."

Tangen also expected a shift in the Asia-Pacific region's relations with the US under a second Trump presidency.

"He's not interested in coalitions or anything like that... he's going to blame Asean, in particular, saying there's a trade imbalance, that it's unfair, that they have to pay more if they want security, and that they have to do something to mend America's broken economy," he said.