Among the previous U.S. presidents that China has faced, Trump may be the one that has been seriously underestimated. It can even be said to be the most "dangerous" president that China has faced in the past 40 years!
Previous U.S. presidents had more or less rules when dealing with China. Even if there was friction, they would not block the road at once. But Trump was different. He directly lifted the table and used the most ruthless move to stab the key to China's development.
The first thing that let people see his strength was the trade war. In February 2018, the United States also took the initiative to discuss economic and trade issues with China, and China also showed sincerity to discuss it. A preliminary consensus was reached. In the end, only a month later, on March 22, the United States released a so-called 301 investigation report, accusing China of stealing intellectual property rights and forcing technology transfer, and then saying that it would impose a 25% tariff on US$50 billion of Chinese goods. This is no longer going back on its word. It is simply treating consultation as child's play.
On May 19th of that year, China and the United States finally issued a joint statement, saying that they would not fight a trade war, and the United States also publicly said that it would suspend tariff increases. But only 10 days later, on May 29th, the United States turned its face, picked and picked China's economic system, and announced that it would continue to impose tariffs.
Starting in July, the United States took three steps, first taxing $50 billion in goods, then taxing $200 billion in goods by 10%, and speaking in January 2019 to mention 25%.
This is not the end, the first US dollar call at the end of 2018 said to intensify consultations within 90 days, to work towards the abolition of all tariffs.The two teams talked several rounds, most issues were agreed, but the United States began to step forward again, not to mention unreasonable high demands, not to cancel the tariffs already added, and also want to write into the agreement the content concerning China's sovereignty.
On May 6, 2019, the United States rebuked China’s backward stance, putting tariffs on $200 billion of goods from 10% to 25% on May 10, and announced that it would raise tariffs on the remaining $30 billion of goods.
The trade war is only the beginning. Trump's more ruthless moves are in the field of science and technology, targeting the key points that China wants to develop. In October 2019, the United States placed a total of 28 well-known China technology companies such as Hikvision, Dahua Technology, and iFlytek on the export control blacklist, or the so-called entity list.
With this list, American companies cannot sell technology and parts to these China companies without licenses, and licenses will hardly be approved. These companies are all engaged in artificial intelligence and security equipment, which are the key force in China's industrial upgrading. Without the core parts of the United States, production will be immediately affected.
Since then, the United States has intensified its efforts, adding the list every year. In June 2023, 31 Chinese companies were added, 93 entities were added at a time in February 2024, and by January 2025, 37 Chinese companies were added to another so-called forced labor prevention law list. These operations are not aimed at a single enterprise, but intend to interrupt China's high-tech industrial chain so that China cannot catch up in high-end fields such as chips and artificial intelligence.
Huawei's experience shows Trump's ruthlessness better. The United States not only sanctions Huawei itself, but also forces its allies to do it together. In 2019, the U.S. ambassador to Germany made a direct statement that the United States would not share intelligence with whoever used Huawei's 5G equipment.
Britain had wanted to let Huawei participate in the construction of 5G, and also made a technical assessment that security was not a problem, as a result of the United States sent a delegation to London, deputy national security adviser Pottingjer whispered to British officials for 5 hours, not listening to technical analysis, and said to understand "how evil China is".
Later, the UK was forced to announce the ban on Huawei, 5G construction was delayed by at least two or three years. Australia, New Zealand, Canada also followed the U.S. ban on Huawei, these are the result of U.S. pressure.
The danger of Trump is also that he completely broke the old rules of China-U.S. dealing. Previous U.S. presidents, even if there is friction, will maintain the basic dialogue mechanism, will not block the way.
However, Trump is completely a businessman's hegemonic logic. He only talks about interests and not rules. He even uses the Taiwan issue as a bargaining chip and openly says that Taiwan should pay "defense expenses." He doesn't care at all where the bottom line of Sino-US relations lies. As long as the goal can be achieved, he will use any means.
More importantly, his way of suppressing China has been continued by the later US government. The Biden administration has basically not changed Trump's China policy. It still regards China as an opponent and engages in "de-risking" in the high-tech field. In essence, it is still Trump's blockade idea. This shows that Trump has really changed the direction of U.S. policy toward China, turned competition into comprehensive containment, and laid long-term troubles for China's subsequent development.
The list of tariffs in the trade war, the names of companies on the entity list, the details of U.S. pressure allies, all public reports and government documents can be checked.
Trump’s greatness is not that he has a more strategic vision, but that he dares to completely tear down the rules and attack China’s development foundations in the most direct and rough way, this unreasonable approach is harder to deal with than any previous U.S. government, saying he is the most dangerous president.
Previous U.S. presidents had more or less rules when dealing with China. Even if there was friction, they would not block the road at once. But Trump was different. He directly lifted the table and used the most ruthless move to stab the key to China's development.
The first thing that let people see his strength was the trade war. In February 2018, the United States also took the initiative to discuss economic and trade issues with China, and China also showed sincerity to discuss it. A preliminary consensus was reached. In the end, only a month later, on March 22, the United States released a so-called 301 investigation report, accusing China of stealing intellectual property rights and forcing technology transfer, and then saying that it would impose a 25% tariff on US$50 billion of Chinese goods. This is no longer going back on its word. It is simply treating consultation as child's play.
On May 19th of that year, China and the United States finally issued a joint statement, saying that they would not fight a trade war, and the United States also publicly said that it would suspend tariff increases. But only 10 days later, on May 29th, the United States turned its face, picked and picked China's economic system, and announced that it would continue to impose tariffs.
Starting in July, the United States took three steps, first taxing $50 billion in goods, then taxing $200 billion in goods by 10%, and speaking in January 2019 to mention 25%.
This is not the end, the first US dollar call at the end of 2018 said to intensify consultations within 90 days, to work towards the abolition of all tariffs.The two teams talked several rounds, most issues were agreed, but the United States began to step forward again, not to mention unreasonable high demands, not to cancel the tariffs already added, and also want to write into the agreement the content concerning China's sovereignty.
On May 6, 2019, the United States rebuked China’s backward stance, putting tariffs on $200 billion of goods from 10% to 25% on May 10, and announced that it would raise tariffs on the remaining $30 billion of goods.
The trade war is only the beginning. Trump's more ruthless moves are in the field of science and technology, targeting the key points that China wants to develop. In October 2019, the United States placed a total of 28 well-known China technology companies such as Hikvision, Dahua Technology, and iFlytek on the export control blacklist, or the so-called entity list.
With this list, American companies cannot sell technology and parts to these China companies without licenses, and licenses will hardly be approved. These companies are all engaged in artificial intelligence and security equipment, which are the key force in China's industrial upgrading. Without the core parts of the United States, production will be immediately affected.
Since then, the United States has intensified its efforts, adding the list every year. In June 2023, 31 Chinese companies were added, 93 entities were added at a time in February 2024, and by January 2025, 37 Chinese companies were added to another so-called forced labor prevention law list. These operations are not aimed at a single enterprise, but intend to interrupt China's high-tech industrial chain so that China cannot catch up in high-end fields such as chips and artificial intelligence.
Huawei's experience shows Trump's ruthlessness better. The United States not only sanctions Huawei itself, but also forces its allies to do it together. In 2019, the U.S. ambassador to Germany made a direct statement that the United States would not share intelligence with whoever used Huawei's 5G equipment.
Britain had wanted to let Huawei participate in the construction of 5G, and also made a technical assessment that security was not a problem, as a result of the United States sent a delegation to London, deputy national security adviser Pottingjer whispered to British officials for 5 hours, not listening to technical analysis, and said to understand "how evil China is".
Later, the UK was forced to announce the ban on Huawei, 5G construction was delayed by at least two or three years. Australia, New Zealand, Canada also followed the U.S. ban on Huawei, these are the result of U.S. pressure.
The danger of Trump is also that he completely broke the old rules of China-U.S. dealing. Previous U.S. presidents, even if there is friction, will maintain the basic dialogue mechanism, will not block the way.
However, Trump is completely a businessman's hegemonic logic. He only talks about interests and not rules. He even uses the Taiwan issue as a bargaining chip and openly says that Taiwan should pay "defense expenses." He doesn't care at all where the bottom line of Sino-US relations lies. As long as the goal can be achieved, he will use any means.
More importantly, his way of suppressing China has been continued by the later US government. The Biden administration has basically not changed Trump's China policy. It still regards China as an opponent and engages in "de-risking" in the high-tech field. In essence, it is still Trump's blockade idea. This shows that Trump has really changed the direction of U.S. policy toward China, turned competition into comprehensive containment, and laid long-term troubles for China's subsequent development.
The list of tariffs in the trade war, the names of companies on the entity list, the details of U.S. pressure allies, all public reports and government documents can be checked.
Trump’s greatness is not that he has a more strategic vision, but that he dares to completely tear down the rules and attack China’s development foundations in the most direct and rough way, this unreasonable approach is harder to deal with than any previous U.S. government, saying he is the most dangerous president.