Trump’s Tough-On-China Policy Will Be A Political Paradigm Shift

Just days after President Trump’s new tariffs went into effect against China to combat the country’s trafficking of fentanyl into the United States, the president said he plans on adding 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. This is a smart play. Like other countries, the Chinese government subsidizes its steel and aluminum industries, allowing its companies to sell products at below-market prices, which undercuts U.S. manufacturers.

While many Democrats are opposing Trump’s efforts, the truth is that, in many ways, the Democratic Party is now singing from the same “tough on China” song sheet. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has praised certain tariff actions against China, emphasizing the need to confront unfair trade practices. Other Democratic senators, including John Fetterman and Ron Wyden, have also supported actions to hold China accountable for trade violations. 

In politics, winning isn’t just about getting a majority of congressional seats and electoral votes. It’s about changing the conversation so drastically that even your opponents start seeing things your way.

Under FDR and Harry Truman, Democrats won five presidential elections in a row. When the GOP finally did return to power, it was under the leadership of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who accepted the New Deal order and even launched his own FDR-style infrastructure project to build the federal highway system.

The pattern repeated itself in the 1990s. After 12 years under Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the American left was in disarray. And who led them out of the wilderness? Bill Clinton, a president who cut welfare benefits, cracked down on crime, balanced the budget, and declared that “the era of big government is over.” 

FDR and Reagan had little in common politically, but both realigned American politics so completely that their vision survived their party’s loss of power.

President Donald Trump has produced a similar paradigm shift. Under Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, the U.S. pursued a naïve policy of free trade with China. The hope was that the ensuing prosperity would lead China’s communist rulers to embrace liberal democracy. Obviously, that hasn’t happened. We wrecked our domestic manufacturing base and got nothing in return but cheap plastic junk.

That started changing when Trump descended the golden escalator in 2015. He was the only politician from either party willing to stand up and shout that America was being ripped off. As president, he slapped tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods, an important first step toward rebuilding American industry and reducing reliance on our greatest geopolitical adversary.

When Joe Biden took office in 2021, he gleefully tore up most of Trump’s policies. The border was thrown wide open, the Paris Climate Accord rejoined, and the Keystone XL pipeline was canceled. But the one thing Biden didn’t touch was Trump’s China tariffs. Like Ike building highways and Clinton cutting welfare, he knew better than to bring back discredited old ideas.

In fact, Biden expanded Trump’s trade war with China. 

Plenty of conservatives attacked Biden’s CHIPs and Science Act, and rightfully so. It was loaded with climate nonsense and DEI jargon. However, its central goal — building a domestic microchip industry so the U.S. can outcompete China in the AI arms race — was sound, and it is fair to argue that the “tough on China” movement Trump started is what convinced Biden to push this concept.

Unfortunately, Biden’s other political commitments prevented him from fighting China as effectively as he might have. China is the number one manufacturer of solar panels and electric vehicle batteries. By subsidizing both (and imposing an EV mandate) to placate his party’s climate alarmists, Biden undermined American energy dominance and made China rich. He was, in effect, threatening the Chinese Communist Party with one hand while feeding them with the other.

Now that Trump’s back in office, he’s ready to shift into top gear. His “drill, baby, drill” energy policy will power the massive server farms we need to lead the global AI revolution and reap trillions of dollars in benefits. 

His assertive interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine will stop China from turning the Panama Canal into its own personal waterway. 

The Pentagon, under Pete Hegseth’s leadership, will prioritize lethality over DEI and deter Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe will take an aggressive approach to gathering intel on the CCP and countering its influence operations around the world. 

A new approach to antitrust enforcement under Pam Bondi and Gail Slater will also consider global economic competition alongside consumer welfare, empowering U.S. companies to challenge Chinese firms on the world stage. (The pre-Pam Bondi-confirmed Justice Department’s attempt to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s acquisition of Juniper, which would create a 5G equipment powerhouse to compete with CCP-subsidized market leader Huawei, is a perfect example of how not to do this.) 

And of course, new tariffs on Chinese goods will help the U.S. reshore supply chains and decrease our crippling trade deficit.

Even the tariffs Trump has threatened to impose against allies are part of a long-term strategy to replace the delusional old free trade mindset with one more conducive to American interests. This new vision of global trade “is one in which the United States anchors a free-trade bloc centered in our own hemisphere and including allies around the world similarly committed to the principles and legal framework of democratic capitalism,” economist Oren Cass explained.

This trade bloc would benefit all its members but would be rooted in an America First approach to public policy. Countries that want to join would have to accept “U.S.-defined requirements that ensured balanced trade, the revitalization of American industry, and the exclusion of China and its producers from supply chains and markets,” Cass noted. Hence the tariff threats. After decades of playing Uncle Sucker, the U.S. needs to throw its weight around a little. It’s the only way to convince friendly nations like Canada, Mexico, and EU member states that if they want to keep trading with us, they’ll need to play by our rules.

President Trump’s first-term crackdown on China exposed the old free trade fantasy as the farce it always was. Like FDR and Reagan before him, he’s rewritten the rules for decades to come. In his second term, Trump has the chance to further solidify that legacy. We’ll know he’s succeeded when the Democrat candidate for president stands on the 2028 debate stage and tries (unsuccessfully) to convince voters he’ll be tougher on China than J.D. Vance.

Charlie Kirk is the founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, and host of The Charlie Kirk Show, a nationally syndicated radio show and one of the most listened to conservative podcasts in the country.