Reference News Website, February 12 report: The French website "Le Monde" published an article titled "Do Trump's supporters really want to start a war with China?" by Mathilde Vellier on February 3. Excerpts are as follows:

With Trump returning to the White House, there are many well-known China "hawks" in the government. Due to a relatively consistent stance between the two parties on taking a tough position toward China, the appointments of these "hawks" may lead people to speculate that Trump's second term policy toward China will continue the tone of the late 2010s. At that time, the general and stronger feeling in the United States was that China posed a serious threat to the U.S., so technical restrictions were imposed on China in order to make the U.S. infrastructure more secure and limit the development of this rival. However, after more than a year of Trump's administration, despite the impression that the U.S. was waving the tariff stick, it can be seen that these enhanced restrictions did not work, and the result was the opposite.

Discourse on China has softened

Since the spring of 2025, many measures restricting technology related to China have been relaxed, canceled, or delayed. To avoid harming trade negotiations with Beijing, the White House has asked the government to suspend certain measures against China. Export controls have moved away from their traditional mission of protecting national security and are now used as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations.

In addition to relaxing these restrictions, the tone of official statements has clearly become less confrontational. President Trump mentioned the concept of "G2," and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that "the relationship between the U.S. and China has never been better."

Do not think that these statements are mistakes made by the president or Hegseth. The U.S. National Security Strategy Report released in December 2025 also reflects a similar position.

The report places the U.S. priorities on the "Western Hemisphere" and proposes a "Trumpian interpretation" of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the U.S. will "advocate and implement the 'Trumpian interpretation' as a new version of the Monroe Doctrine." The specific statements targeting China only refer to trade imbalances and China's excess capacity, without mentioning words such as "rival," "challenge," or "threat." The report argues that if the U.S. can maintain economic growth and maintain a mutually beneficial economic relationship with Beijing, it can gain significant benefits.

Other strategic goals in the new report do not explicitly target China, reflecting that although some people in the U.S. government (especially in the Pentagon) still feel concerned about China, others (such as the Treasury Secretary) hope to ease the tone toward China.

Hope to promote exports to China

The relaxation of restrictions and discourse on China seems to reflect a partial victory of the "pro-trade" alliance within the Trump administration over the hawks, which might be temporary. Led by President Trump, this alliance's primary hope is to promote the export of American products to China and around the world.

Seven years later, Trump continued to place trade truce at the core of his strategy during his second term. Now, the cost of escalating trade tensions is very high, and China has shown strong resilience, especially through its control of rare earth exports. Supporters of the White House believe that relaxing or postponing restrictions is to gain time for the U.S. to diversify rare earth supply channels and reduce dependence on China.

Aside from these concerns, promoting U.S. exports in the technology sector is also part of the strategy. This strategy aims to "win the race" in artificial intelligence, making U.S. technology the global foundation rather than implementing overly broad export controls. Selling chips to China allows the U.S. to keep China dependent on American technology; if they don't export, China will develop its own chip manufacturing industry. Entering the profitable Chinese market can also allow U.S. companies to gain profits, reinvest in R&D innovation, and maintain advantages in high-tech and military areas.

This strategy has also been actively defended by American companies like NVIDIA, which hope to export their products to China. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang described export controls as a "failure," saying that it gives China the "motivation, energy, and government support to accelerate development."

Such statements from Huang have also made the U.S. worry that China might win the artificial intelligence competition. In fact, the U.S. should be "accelerating development," not imposing restrictions.

Policy towards China swings left and right

Although the stance toward Beijing is relatively soft, Washington has not relaxed its response in the security field. Many senior generals in the Pentagon continue to push a strategy to compete with China globally, including in the high-tech field. Many independent institutions, officials, and political figures believe that restrictions should be strengthened.

However, during the first year of Trump's current administration, the government's stance toward China was not overly focused on the security risk area, although this stance was full of contradictions. It is clearly visible that public opinion does not seem interested in these security issues: A survey in 2023 showed that 58% of people considered China a threat, but by 2025, this proportion had dropped to 50%, especially among Democrats who have reevaluated China. This is the first time after the pandemic that so many Americans believe that trade with China strengthens rather than weakens national security.

Faced with this change, Congress remains faithful to its usual position. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the U.S. Congress has viewed China as a threat, and has always hindered previous presidents from developing relations with China. The concern of members of Congress about China even appeared in the budget debate in 2026 - the defense authorization bill passed in December 2025 contains many measures targeting China. Moreover, Congress has also specifically passed a mechanism to control investments in foreign technology sectors, expanding the scope of similar executive orders from the Biden administration.

Congress has clearly stated its desire to strengthen restrictions on China's technology trade, but its actual ability to pressure the government is limited. In terms of tariff policy, Congress has also failed to earn enough respect.

Decisions in Trump's second term result from a combination of various factors, including the influence of the president's close associates and those closely connected to tech leaders. This is a strategy aimed at ensuring the U.S. high-tech leadership and a choice to prioritize the "Western Hemisphere."

Although these decisions are surprising, they should not be overinterpreted. In fact, the U.S. government continues to swing left and right in its China policy.

Washington's China policy remains contradictory. This situation is harmful to the U.S. strength. (Translated by Lu Longjun)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7605870128390996490/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.