Trump Is Making China Great (Again)

America might still be the world’s most powerful country economically, but by turning trade into a weapon, Washington may be accelerating the very redistribution of global influence it fears the most.

The trajectory of power

In 2026, China reduced provisional import tariff rates on 935 categories of goods. More significantly, in May it extended zero-tariff treatment to imports from 53 African countries, building on its earlier elimination of tariffs on all tariff lines for 33 least-developed African countries. These measures are hardly evidence that Beijing has suddenly become a champion of laissez-faire economics. From the European perspective, China remains deeply protectionist in important sectors and continues to face criticism over subsidies, industrial overcapacity, and its enormous trade surplus. But geopolitics is often about comparison rather than purity.

China does not need to become the world’s model of free trade. It benefits if the United States becomes increasingly associated with economic coercion while Beijing becomes comparatively more attractive as a source of markets, investment, and trade. That is already happening.

Washington has imposed new tariffs on 60 trading partners this year, including China and the European Union. The administration has also continued to explore additional measures against Chinese industrial capacity and other trading partners. The result is not simply a more protected American economy. It is an international environment in which countries have greater incentives to diversify away from dependence on the United States. This distinction matters. American tariffs may reduce America’s dependence on particular foreign suppliers. But if Washington........

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