Trump’s new weakness on China

Published December 5, 2025 6:00am ET



President Donald Trump’s foremost accomplishment during his first term was breaking the decadeslong bipartisan consensus that Beijing’s threats were only slight irritants amid the far greater opportunity offered by China’s economy. That shift endured into the Biden administration.

Today, however, Trump seems determined to reverse course. Trump is increasingly replacing a China policy rooted in hard-headed strength with one of overt appeasement. This is a big problem.

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