The consensus amongst America’s intelligence and protection institutions is that China represents probably the most complete risk to U.S. financial and nationwide safety pursuits. The 2025 Annual Menace Evaluation from the U.S. Intelligence Neighborhood identifies China as presenting “probably the most complete and strong navy risk to U.S.” forces, whereas the FBI has declared that “the counterintelligence and financial espionage efforts emanating from the federal government of China and the Chinese language Communist Celebration are a grave risk to the financial well-being and democratic values of the USA.”
The Protection Intelligence Company’s 2025 evaluation flags China as “the long-term pacing problem,” noting its navy modernization, increasing protection funds, and assertive international coverage as contributing to elevated danger for America.
Amid this unprecedented risk, many China analysts view President Trump’s robust stance as a vital response to safeguard American sovereignty, financial pursuits, and nationwide safety. The Division of Protection’s 2024 China Army Energy Report notes China’s nuclear arsenal has grown to over 600 warheads, with projections surpassing 1,000 by 2030. In the meantime, the U.S. Commerce Consultant reviews that China is pursuing “manufacturing and market share targets that may solely be achieved via non-market means” throughout vital financial sectors.
An goal evaluation of earlier administrations’ approaches to China reveals that Donald Trump has applied probably the most aggressive and complete financial measures of any American president.
Earlier than President Trump launched the U.S.–China commerce warfare in 2018, common U.S. tariffs on Chinese language imports had been simply 3 %, whereas China imposed common tariffs of round 8 % on U.S. items. To appropriate this imbalance, Trump applied aggressive tariff will increase, which by his second time period had surged to a median of 51.1 % on all Chinese language exports, a greater than 15-fold soar. These measures marked probably the most complete commerce motion towards any main U.S. buying and selling accomplice in trendy historical past and had been broadly seen by Trump supporters as a justified response to many years of unfair Chinese language practices.
In 2025, Trump threatened tariffs as excessive as 145 % on all Chinese language items. Whereas in the end negotiated down, the applied charges stay at unprecedented ranges. The financial affect has been swift: U.S. tariff income reached $24.2 billion in Could 2025 alone, whereas direct imports from China fell 43 % year-over-year to a 19-year low. General, the 2025 tariffs are projected to lift $156.2 billion in federal income, equal to 0.51 % of GDP, making them the biggest tax enhance since 1993.
Past tariff’s, the president’s strategy to China prolonged right into a broad, strategic decoupling throughout a number of sectors. His administration imposed sweeping restrictions on Chinese language funding in vital U.S. industries, expertise, infrastructure, vitality, healthcare, meals provides, farmland, ports, and minerals, primarily via enhanced powers of the Committee on Overseas Funding in the USA (CFIUS).
Trump additionally restricted China’s entry to American capital markets. Government Order 13959, signed on November 12, 2020, barred U.S. buyers from holding securities in corporations recognized as “Communist Chinese language navy corporations,” forcing divestment from dozens of main Chinese language companies and triggering broader monetary separation.
In parallel, Trump signed the Holding Overseas Corporations Accountable Act, making a pathway for delisting Chinese language companies from U.S. inventory exchanges in the event that they fail to adjust to American auditing requirements for 3 consecutive years. Since its implementation, the SEC has flagged over 135 corporations counting on auditors primarily based in China or Hong Kong for potential future motion, although enforcement mechanisms and audit entry agreements have prevented mass delistings as of 2025. Many Chinese language corporations have proactively pursued different listings in Hong Kong and different venues in anticipation of potential future enforcement.” These measures had been meant to chop Chinese language companies off from the world’s largest capital markets.
The Trump administration additionally focused Chinese language expertise with export controls and outright bans. Huawei Applied sciences was barred from buying very important U.S. parts and excluded from American telecom networks on nationwide safety grounds. Trump additional ordered bans on dealings with the Chinese language homeowners of TikTok and WeChat, citing comparable considerations. These actions aimed to sever Chinese language tech giants from vital U.S. expertise and cripple their world operations.
Trump’s decoupling technique prolonged to academia. The administration imposed strict visa restrictions on Chinese language college students and students, particularly these with ties to the Chinese language Communist Celebration or enrolled in delicate analysis fields. Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced that the U.S. would start “aggressively” revoking such visas, representing a dramatic shift from many years of educational alternate.
Collectively, these non-tariff actions constituted probably the most complete financial and technological confrontation with China in trendy U.S. historical past. Not like earlier administrations, Trump’s technique was unified, far-reaching, and explicitly designed to realize long-term decoupling from the Chinese language Communist Celebration’s affect.
