Foreign Affairs | Rebecca Lissner, Mira Rapp-Hooper
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is inadvertently facilitating the expansion of Chinese influence in Asia through a de facto sphere of influence strategy, despite ongoing debates over its intentionality. While the Trump administration asserts its claim over the Western Hemisphere, including through military and influence campaigns in Venezuela and Cuba, it appears to be ceding ground for China to broaden its political, military, and economic sway across Asia. This strategic dynamic is highlighted by the "lavish but substantively modest" summit between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in May 2026, which analysts suggest underscores a pattern where U.S. concessions, whether explicit or implicit, quietly contribute to the consolidation of Chinese power in its regional periphery. This approach risks establishing a new global order where great powers divide regions into privileged blocs, potentially undermining the sovereignty and interests of smaller states and reshaping the international system.
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