When President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, he vowed to use tariffs to reset relations with China, which he said was “killing” the United States with its trade policies.
Now, more than a year into his second term, Trump’s aggressive trade moves have not fundamentally altered Beijing’s trade or military actions. Instead, Washington’s China policy appears adrift, causing confusion among officials and driving contradictory decisions.
The administration’s erratic moves toward Beijing have been on full display in recent months. Those include adding top Chinese companies to a military blacklist only to withdraw the list moments later, and a decision by Trump to greenlight AI semiconductor sales to China within minutes of his government labeling Chinese access to them a national security threat.
