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China’s Dream of Global Economic Dominance At Stake in 2024 Election

Posted on Saturday, March 30, 2024
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by Ben Solis
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20 Comments
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AMAC EXCLUSIVE

trump and xi of china

When American voters head to the polls to vote for the next president this fall, one of the most important choices they will make is on the future of manufacturing policy in the United States. After four years under President Joe Biden largely defined by lackluster growth and empty promises about a resurgence of “made in America” products, the country now has the opportunity to return to the successful policies of former President Donald J. Trump – a prospect which rightly has Chinese officials concerned.

Recognizing the immense appeal of Trump’s efforts to revitalize the American manufacturing sector, Joe Biden pledged on the campaign trail in 2020 to make a similar commitment to bringing more manufacturing jobs back to the United States.

But like virtually every other promise Biden made, that promise failed to materialize. According to the Institute for Supply Management, the American manufacturing sector contracted again in February for the 16th consecutive month, “with demand slowing, output easing, and inputs remaining accommodative.”

Meanwhile, China has seen Biden’s failed policies as an opportunity to revive its own manufacturing sector after years of slowing Chinese growth due to the hardline approach taken by Trump and China’s socialist command economy.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping rose to power in 2013, it was on promises of economic rejuvenation and the realization of the “Chinese Dream,” where a booming economy was fueled by China’s status as a “world factory.”

With Xi’s ascent, however, “the economic growth began to decelerate for the first time in history since the production cycle bottomed out,” Professor Shū Chén Xīng told me. Shū was formerly a law and economics professor and high-ranking official at the Chinese Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission before defecting to the West.

In response to slowing economic growth, in 2015 Xi launched “Made in China 2025,” an ambitious initiative aimed at making China the dominant power in high-tech manufacturing. The broader goal of the program was to set China on a course to overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy.

Xi ordered economic reforms designed to strengthen and enlarge state-owned monopolies, hoping that U.S. consumer and capital markets would continue to finance his plan. At first, it seemed to be working, with both political parties in the United States failing to stem the hollowing out of America’s manufacturing sector.

But then came Trump’s unexpected victory in 2016. Professor Shū described Trump’s policies as “pouring cold water” on Xi’s manufacturing dreams.

Trump proceeded to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods, incentivizing more companies to re-shore production to the United States. Overall, Trump led the creation of 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs during his tenure.

Partially as a result of the Trump policies, Chinese economic growth slowed dramatically, a trend which continued even into the Biden years. While many commentators have blamed slowing growth entirely on Xi’s pandemic policies, it is Trump’s agenda which ended the practice of the U.S. government facilitating the rise of China’s economy. Trump also awakened many Western investors to the dangers of doing business in China.

To his credit, Biden has wisely kept a number of Trump’s tariffs in place. But his policy priorities in other areas, namely his ambitions for a “green revolution,” have provided a new opening for Beijing to gain the advantage in the ongoing economic competition.

One former advisor to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, said that the CCP “saw Biden’s climate policies as a reflection of Mao’s Great Leap Forward” in the sense that they “looked like a plan in the spirit of the centrally commanded economy with precisely defined goals that socialist countries never achieve” but nonetheless pour endless resources into.

Xi also saw Biden’s climate agenda as an opportunity to open up a new market for Chinese electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells, referred to collectively in China as “green things.” While Chinese EVs have not made an appearance on American roads – yet – the United States has been flooded with Chinese batteries and solar panels that are effectively subsidized by the U.S. government through Biden’s green energy programs. The CCP economic journal, which I reviewed, found that without exports of green things, “China’s 2023 GDP would have been 2-2.5 percent lower.”

Xi and other Chinese leaders understand that Trump’s election would mean the end of favorable policies from Washington. As Professor Shū told me, “People around Xi refer to Biden as Shui Wang, which means ‘Sleepy King,’ since it is a smooth time for them compared to the four previous years.” Trump’s re-election, Shū said, would be a “Chinese nightmare.”

Trump has notably called for even higher tariffs on Chinese goods – possibly as high as 60 percent or (even 100 percent in the case of Chinese automobiles). A former CCP advisor told me that Chinese economists “don’t know how to respond to Trump’s new policies.”

“No one doubts that a Trump-initiated China-U.S. decoupling is ongoing,” Professor Shū said. “But China wants to slow that process down.” Trump’s election, though, would supercharge it.

As Rep. Mike Gallagher, the outgoing chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, said last August, “De-industrialization is a policy choice. And it’s been the favored policy of both parties for far too long.”

Trump’s election in 2016 bucked that trend and set the United States on a course to a manufacturing resurgence that would deal a devastating blow to China’s dream of global economic dominance. Now, Trump has a chance to complete that mission if he can win back the White House this November.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.

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PaulE
PaulE
7 months ago

Xi’s meeting with the heads of several major “American” companies this week (they are ALL big backers of China’s global agenda and supporters of whatever Xi wants…one and same) was basically the CCP laying out to these CEOs what the Party expects from them in return, if any of their companies expect continued access to the China market. Together this group of CEOs represented trillions of dollars in assets hanging on Xi’s every word.

Xi and the CCP have a lot more means of advancing the agenda than just Biden. He is merely the main puppet that Xi is leveraging to move his country forward. There are many more in the Democrat Party on the payroll. Not to mention more than a few RINOs in Congress. So, while who the occupant of the White House is vitally important to making this country more stable and secure, the CCP has many other proxies working diligently to undermine us and promote China’s interests. There is a lot of housekeeping that needs to be done to clean up this mess.

carl
carl
7 months ago

500 former congressman are lobbyists in DC.

I would like to see AMAC shine a light on lobbyists in DC.

Kevin Griggs
Kevin Griggs
7 months ago

Lots of voters are extremely uneducated, they think the election is a popularity contest.
The majority of the electorate don’t understand the risks involved in electing the wrong people.

John
John
7 months ago

President Trump is the only hope to save America and throwing off the shackles of a corrupt Totalitarian Communist Democrat Party Comrade’s.
American’s need to throw out all of the communist Democrat party supporter’s from every office across the country.
If we don’t and allow them to continue it won’t matter were the manufacturing is done as everyone will be slaves of the CCP by default.

Rich
Rich
7 months ago

But…..the communist/democrats love communist China. Not to mention the resident in the White House. I guess we need to cozy up to the communists if we are going to be one of them. NOT!!!! Get a brain! Throw these political traitors OUT. Vote for those who will stand for our Constitution and freedom!

Fred Noel
Fred Noel
7 months ago

The reason the Communist Chinese Party released their bio weapon, the CCP-19-VIRUS, on America and the world was to destroy President Trump’s economy.
With the help of the CDC, WHO Dr Deep State Fauci along with the DNC mail-in balloting fraud and corruption they were successful!
I’m sure they have a plan in place for 2024 election cycle.
President Trump is the only President in my lifetime to stand up to the Chinese government. He will do it again as long as we can somehow overcome the cheating by the Democrats.

JanG
JanG
7 months ago

A vote for biden is a vote for china.

Bill on the Hill
Bill on the Hill
7 months ago

It has never ceased to amaze me how China, a thoroughly communist nation in every respect has always had a knack for working around capitalistic policies around the globe as here in America they, i.e. China basically owns America with respect to buying so much of our debt.
The CCP has the entire Democrat Party in their back pocket with very few exceptions, this opinion of mine extends to the RINO’s amongst the Republican Party as well, this will NEVER play in America’s favor for the obvious reason, America is an ‘open society’ whereas China is closed to the world for all intense & purposes…
Happy Easter to everyone,
Bill…:~)

Robert Zuccaro
Robert Zuccaro
7 months ago

“A prosperous China is good for America!”- John Kerry. Did anyone expect any less after Clinton, then Bush, opened up trade after whitewashing their trade status and manufacturing was outsourced there? When an American soldier or Navy carrier is sunk in the future war with China remember: WE PAID FOR THE BULLETS AND MISSILES!

John
John
7 months ago

It’s not a dream it’s a “fantasy” on the part of the CCP to control the whole planet economically, politically, socially and morally.

Jeanette Ferretti Wojtas
Jeanette Ferretti Wojtas
7 months ago

For centuries the Chinese Government has wanted to rule the world…Biden

sdg
sdg
7 months ago

Setting the stage for massive interference in the 2024 election process. How will we ever have a fair election with Chinese interference, elitists buying votes, Soros billions poured into ballot harvesting, dead people votes, and many more methods of cheating in states that go either way. Ask yourselves are you better off now with the Biden/ Obama policies or were you better off with Trump policies.you know the answer it should be a landslide for the Republicans, but with the evil filthy cheating I’m afraid we will be a banana republic like Venezuela soon!!!

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
7 months ago

Since June 1953+

Donald Trump speaking
election integrity shown with ballot with a lock around it and American flag
the media cameras, filming donald trump
senate, republican ron johnson

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