US-China Negotiations: Who Has the Upper Hand?

President Trump's trip to China has prompted split media perspectives on the current power dynamic of the American-Chinese relationship.

US Losing: The New York Times Editorial Board (Left bias) said Trump "has weakened the United States relative to China" and that "the damage has been especially bad in his second term." It said Trump's "failed tariffs" are the "central example" and have triggered other events, such as China limiting US access to rare earth minerals, and then using it as a cudgel to strike a semiconductor deal with the US. The Board also criticized Trump for alienating international "partners that can help counter China," diminishing "funding for scientific research," "American prowess in A.I.," and "green energy," and hurting the US economy with the Iran war. In conclusion, the Board said if the US is going to reassert itself over China, it should "reject Mr. Trump's shambolic, self-serving approach to governing and diplomacy" and "employ a version of the strategy that prevailed in the long 20th-century struggles against fascism and communism."

US Winning: In an opinion for Fox News (Right), Trump's former National Security Council Chief of Staff Alexander Gray said China has previously held an advantage because it made itself "economically indispensable," but that American economic growth made possible by Trump has changed the dynamic. He credited Trump's "deregulatory agenda" and "tax reforms" for getting the US economy moving in the right direction, as China's growth has slowed. Gray concluded, "The America First agenda was never simply about closing America off from the world. It was about ensuring that when America engages the world, including a rival as formidable as China, it does so from a position of strength." In contrast to The New York Times Editorial Board, Bret Stephens (Lean Right) of NYT Opinion published an opinion, China Is Much Weaker Than It Seems. That's the Problem.

Neither: Evan Sankey of The American Conservative (Lean Right) said, "U.S.-China relations are structurally competitive, but they do not have to be purely so, nor so prone to accident and force." He criticized DC for letting its understanding of the US-China relationship deteriorate, and said the White House should be more serious about "sustaining" the relationship. Sankey concluded that this week's meeting "is not make or break," but that it could be particularly beneficial if the two sides tackle some "difficult political questions" such as Taiwan and how to resolve the Iran war.

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