Donald Trump Handing the World to China

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Last Updated on: 3rd February 2025, 01:44 pm

Things that have existed since we were born are very hard to imagine not existing. That may be especially true for broad societal norms, structures, and assumptions. The United States has held an exceptional role in the world for more than 100 years, and especially since World War II. Through economics, humanitarian aid, the military, and international politics, the United States took the role of world leader in many regards. From free trade to protection of allies to inventing and exporting technology, culture, and even democracy, the United States set the tone and many global policies of the last century.

Now, there are more factors at play other than Donald Trump taking over the White House again, such as China’s long-term investments in the technologies and economies of the future. However, without a doubt, Donald Trump is now aggressively pushing the rest of the world into China’s arms. As a result of actions in the first 10 days of his presidency, not to mention whatever is to come, many countries of the world are surely making the decision right now that there’s no more question who to follow, who to ally with, and who to treat as the world’s geopolitical leaders.

Trump is threatening allies, blowing up the foundations of international organizations and policies, and turning a more friendly, open world into a more aggressive, closed world. He is pulling support from countless countries, and is disintegrating the USA’s soft power as a result. Our top competitors politically and economically could not have dreamt up a more ideal script for wrestling power away from us. No wrestling is required. We are freely giving up power by acting like a lunatic and lashing out at our closest friends and family.

Since taking office (for the second time, after he tried to use political violence to retain power the first time), Trump has:

• Imposed big tariffs on our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, historically two of our closest allies.
• Pulled out of the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Pulled out of the Paris climate accords (again). Note that “As of 2025, all 197 countries of the United Nations have endorsed the Paris Agreement. Of those, 195 have solidified their support with formal approval. The only countries that have yet to formally join the agreement are Iran, Libya, and Yemen,” as NRDC reports. We are setting ourselves out of this world collective by pulling out of the agreement.

• Threatened to take the Panama Canal from Panama (which does not have a military).

• Proposed taking Greenland, and not writing off the use of military force to do so.
• Shut down USAID, in a dramatic and shocking way, something that will cost countless lives and is completely damning from a humanitarian perspective. “No one feels safe to go anywhere near the Ronald Reagan building,” a USAID official told NBC News. “We just had Elon Musk call us a criminal organization. Our security chief was escorted out.” Note that “USAID was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy and has been the U.S. government’s main international humanitarian and development arm.”

Our support for allies is being pulled in multiple ways — militarily as well as financially — and that means our power, or influence, as a nation is degrading on the world stage. China’s support for other nations has been growing fast in recent years. That is going to continue, and more and more countries are thus going to see China as their global leader, not the US.

We are entitled and complacent, thinking the world will always listen to the US because of our legacy as a leader. However, as we trash our legacy, that is becoming less and less true. We are going to be ignored more and more, while also getting less and less economic benefit from ostracizing ourselves.

One good thing from all of this, as Mike Barnard recently pointed out, is that the world can move faster on cleantech and other climate solutions without the oil-soaked “United States” dragging it down.