President Donald J. Trump has gone a long way to push back on China’s economic and military ambitions around the world. His scheduled meeting this week with heads of state from West Africa focused on expanding commercial opportunities is a good opportunity to confront Chinese ambitions to expand their reach within these African countries.

The Trump administration has done a good job of pushing back on China’s ambitions by imposing tariffs and boosting military spending. On economic issues, the Trump tariffs have brought the Chinese government to the table to negotiate better trade terms with the United States. Yahoo Finance reported on July 6, 2025, that because of the pressure of imposed and threatened future tariffs, “the US has eased export restrictions on China for chip design software and ethane, a sign that trade tensions are calming between the two countries after they agreed in May to a framework to move toward a larger trade deal.” The pressure of tariffs seems to be leading to renegotiated trade deals that will end up allowing more American access to Chinese consumers while ceasing China’s tacit support for counterfeit products coming from Chinese........

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