{"id":1789,"date":"2025-07-17T06:12:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T06:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/17\/us-losing-ground-to-china-due-to-trumps-policies-democrats-warn\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T06:12:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T06:12:47","slug":"us-losing-ground-to-china-due-to-trumps-policies-democrats-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/17\/us-losing-ground-to-china-due-to-trumps-policies-democrats-warn\/","title":{"rendered":"US losing ground to China due to Trump\u2019s policies, Democrats warn"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The United States is losing strategic ground to China due to US President Donald Trump\u2019s withdrawal from the global stage and transactional approach to foreign policy, a Democrat-authored report has warned.<\/p>\n

Surveying Trump\u2019s first six months in office, the report warns that his tenure has\u00a0\u201csignificantly undermined\u201d Washington\u2019s ability to compete with China.<\/p>\n

The report highlights staff reductions at the US Department of State and the \u201cchaotic gutting\u201d of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Agency for Global Media \u2013 which oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Asia \u2013 as moves that have weakened US power and influence.<\/p>\n

The report, released on Monday by Democratic members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, describes China as a \u201cstrategic challenge distinct from any in our nation\u2019s history\u201d with a \u201clong-term strategy to unseat the United States as the world\u2019s leading superpower\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile President Trump retreats from every corner of the world \u2013 attacking allies, slashing America\u2019s diplomatic tools and embracing adversaries \u2013 China is building influence, expanding relationships and reshaping the global order to its advantage,\u201d US Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement.<\/p>\n

According to the report, China has moved to fill the void created by Trump\u2019s withdrawal from global initiatives such as the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement by boosting funding overseas and increasing its diplomatic footprint.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s tariff war against US trade partners has also undercut \u201calliances and economic partnerships\u201d, according to the report, pushing even close US allies in the direction of China.<\/p>\n

The warning from Democrats, who hold a minority of seats in both Congressional houses, dovetails with Tuesday\u2019s release of an opinion survey pointing to a global shift in attitudes in favour of China.<\/p>\n

Attitudes towards China have improved in 15 out of 25 countries, including Mexico, South Africa, Turkiye, Kenya and Indonesia, compared with last year, the nonpartisan US-based Pew Research Center said.<\/p>\n

While overall global perception of China remains largely negative \u2013 with a median 54 percent of respondents reporting an unfavourable perception \u2013 the country is now seen as the world\u2019s top economic power with a slight edge over the US, according to Pew.<\/p>\n

The survey found that 41 percent of respondents viewed China as the world\u2019s \u201ctop economy\u201d in 2025, compared with 39 percent for the US.<\/p>\n

\"US-China
The US and Chinese flags wave in Zhangjiakou, China, on February 2, 2022 [Kiichiro Sato\/AP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of the sharpest shifts in perception were seen in 10 high-income countries \u2013 Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Across this group, only 35 percent of respondents held a favourable view of the US, down from 51 percent in 2024, according to Pew, with double-digit drops in sentiment recorded in key Asia Pacific allies South Korea, Japan and Australia.<\/p>\n

China received a bump in approval across the 10 high-income countries, rising from 23 percent favourability in 2024 to 32 percent in 2025.<\/p>\n

Confidence in the US president across high-income countries fell from 53 percent in 2024, when US President Joe Biden was in office, to 22 percent following Trump\u2019s return to the White House, according to Pew.<\/p>\n

The US president\u2019s approval rating is now slightly lower than that of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who saw a slight uptick in approval from 17 percent in 2024 to 24 percent in 2025.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s trade war has engendered \u201cmuch deeper scepticism and distrust of the United States across Asia today\u201d, said Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some, cooperation with [China] appears to be an attractive alternative,\u201d Chong told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the lack of strong responses to the US tariffs also reflect a reality where economies in the region and beyond realise that they also cannot do without economic cooperation with the United States, however much they may dislike it.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Yang, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the Brussels-based Crisis Group think tank, said China is increasingly seen as a more reliable business partner amid the uncertainty emanating from the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs countries grapple with the uncertainties brought by the Trump administration, a growing number of them, including close US allies in the Indo-Pacific region, are seeking to stabilise their relationship with China by increasing high-level bilateral exchanges,\u201d Yang told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Leaders of a host of US allies have visited China since Trump took office, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, both of whom met Chinese President Xi Jinping this week in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Xi also received the prime ministers of Singapore, New Zealand and Spain, as well as the president of Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still fundamental concerns about certain Chinese practices, especially in the security sector, but in order to ensure they have more bandwidth to cope with the added uncertainties created by the Trump administration, these countries see the need to stabilise their relationship with China,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat, in turn, might result in a slight improvement of views on China.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States is losing strategic ground to China due to US President Donald Trump\u2019s withdrawal from the global stage and transactional approach to foreign policy, a Democrat-authored report has warned. Surveying Trump\u2019s first six months in office, the report warns that his tenure has\u00a0\u201csignificantly undermined\u201d Washington\u2019s ability to compete with China. The report highlights … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}