The Trump Team is replete with China ‘hawks’, military hawks and trade hawks. But China knows what the U.S. plans – and has prepared. For now, Team Trump is focussed on separating the fronts: The U.S. cannot fight both Russia, China and Iran. So it is ‘Iran First’, then a weakening of Russia – plus a tightening of blockades and sieges around China.
Michael Vlahos, who taught war and strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, however, observes that:
“China represents today a military force that is the opposite of that which faced the U.S. in the Pacific in 1941. [AT that time] Japan, in terms of its military effectiveness and the size of its Navy, [wa]s really the equivalent of the U.S. and U.S. Navy today – whereas China is the equivalent of the U.S. as it was in 1941”.
“In other words, China has all the capacity to build and produce planes and ships. It has 200 times the ship-building capacity of the U.S. And the U.S. is in a position where today it cannot even maintain and repair the ships it has. If you look at American warships, they are covered in rust. It’s shameful”.
Yet the U.S. already has lost the more consequential war – the financial war.
Both Bessent and Rubio are following the same playbook, which economist Sean Foo calls “Neocon Basics 101”:
“The harsh reality for Bessent (and Trump) is that China’s trade surplus has reached an incredible $242 billion in Q4 last year – equivalent to 4.4% of GDP”.
The other side of the coin to this U.S. trade deficit is that whilst China’s trade with the U.S. is down by over 20% almost every month versus a year ago, with the rest of the world (including Africa and Asia), China’s exports are Up – and growing strongly.
