China and the US

China and the US have been competing in every field for the past few decades, and this is the first time the US has faced this kind of competition. It is different from the Cold War, because the USSR could compete with the US militarily, but not economically. Now China’s GDP is expanding very quickly and is not that far from the US in economic power.

And this has shifted the entire geopolitical landscape. The speed of that shift has gotten even faster after Trump’s tariff war. Because of the tariffs, and the threats toward Greenland, Canada, NATO, and other traditional allies like Japan and Korea, a lot of countries are seeking alternatives.

They do not necessarily want to get away from the US, because many still view this Trump administration as short-term chaos. But they want more bargaining power, or simply a place to fall back on as a safety switch. However, when so many countries are doing the same thing so quickly and on such a large scale, that “fallback option” can turn into the first option.

That is why we are seeing so much decoupling from the US, and it is happening at a fast, scary speed. Because of that, China has been gaining the upper hand in the fight with the US. No matter how strong a person is, they still need friends, because there is no such thing as a completely well-rounded person.

The same goes for a country. If the US continues pulling away from the world, China will fill the gap easily. The world is shifting very fast, while the US is stepping down from its superpower position. The US would still be a strong power, but it would no longer be the strongest country in the world. Instead, it would be on equal footing with China.

And unfortunately, it seems there is no way to go back, and it might even accelerate, because we still have three years to go under this administration.