The Fault Lines in China’s Power: America Must Build—and Use—Leverage Against Beijing

Foreign Affairs

The 2025 U.S.-Chinese trade war, initiated by President Donald Trump's nearly 75 percent tariffs, quickly concluded with the U.S. folding due to China's strategic leverage over rare-earth elements. Beijing, controlling 90 percent of global rare-earth processing, retaliated with export controls, threatening American manufacturing and the U.S. defense industrial base.

This confrontation exposed a profound U.S. strategic deficit, as Washington failed to exploit China's significant domestic economic vulnerabilities—including weak demand, mounting debt, and high youth unemployment—or its external dependencies on the U.S. and its partners for energy, capital, and technology. The article argues that the United States must shift from a purely defensive "de-risking" approach to a calibrated offensive strategy, leveraging China's pain points to compel resource diversion from threatening initiatives. Key actions include constraining China's access to advanced semiconductors, synchronizing export restrictions with allies like the Netherlands and Japan, and preventing the unwinding of existing controls to maintain a competitive edge.

To read in details click here