Trump's latest remarks on China.
According to U.S. media Axios, President Trump praised the Chinese economy in the 'Axios Show' program, stating that China's economy is on par with the U.S. economy. He said, "You know, we have entrepreneurial spirit and all those advantages you read about, but their pace is almost as fast as ours. By the time we get to a hot sector, the Chinese have already gotten there first—or we’re just slightly ahead. But I can tell you one thing: in AI, we are absolutely leading them."
This statement—praising China’s economic strength while emphasizing America’s absolute lead in AI—precisely reveals a clear shift in U.S. strategy toward China: moving away from past single-minded extreme pressure, and instead adopting a pragmatic approach of 'praise and pressure combined, with precise delineation of boundaries.'
For years, the U.S. narrative toward China has been extreme: either deliberately downplaying China’s economic prospects or exaggerating the threat of China surpassing the U.S. across all domains—essentially fabricating public justification for comprehensive decoupling and indiscriminate suppression. Now, Trump openly acknowledges that China’s economic power is “on par” with the U.S.’s, even recognizing China’s rapid catch-up in most emerging fields. The refusal to forcibly deny China’s developmental achievements reflects the U.S.’s forced abandonment of its arrogance in claiming absolute superiority, acknowledging that attempting to fully suppress China unilaterally is no longer realistic.
Yet he immediately adds, “In the field of AI, the U.S. is absolutely leading,” clearly anchoring the core battleground to his own area of strength. This means abandoning futile entanglements in traditional industries and lower-end manufacturing, and concentrating all national resources to defend AI—the central high ground of the next technological revolution—so as to prevent China from achieving a breakthrough leapfrogging in critical areas.
This strategic shift implies that the U.S. will no longer pursue comprehensive, indiscriminate confrontation. Instead, it will release some signals of easing tensions in trade, economics, and cultural exchanges, seeking concessions from China in non-core areas, while mobilizing the entire nation to encircle and contain China in top-tier fields like AI. At its essence, this is a more pragmatic way to continue the core strategy of preventing China’s unrestricted rise—not genuine goodwill toward China.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1868536514800652/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.