American President Donald Trump seems to have a dogged determination to prevent China from surpassing the US. He is believed to be making hectic efforts by slapping brutal tariffs on the communist country to ensure that the US global hegemony is not challenged.
His policy of hobnobbing with Russia and holding an olive branch to Iran also suggests that he would like to isolate the second-biggest economic power in the world.
Trump pretends to be worried about ordinary Americans, millions of whom lost jobs because of globalisation and the shifting of industry from the US to various states around the world.
He seems to have a strong desire to bring back those manufacturing units which were shifted to other regions of the world in search of cheap labour and limitless profit. Trump seems to believe that Chinese policies are responsible for the US’s declining industrial base and that European allies equally share the blame for their policy of taking advantage of “American altruism”.
However, critics believe the tariff regime installed by Trump cannot help the sole superpower, nor will the bullying tactics revitalise American industries. It is said the US needs to carry out introspection, pondering over the factors leading to China’s rise as a global power. Lambasting states or acting as a truculent bully cannot provide millions of Americans with employment, housing and education.
Only a radical shift in policies can help the Republican administration extend help and succour to the vast majority of Americans who have witnessed a lot of misery since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Political observers are of the view that one of the factors enabling China to make tremendous strides in science and technology was its focus on the productive sector. While the US spent over $24 trillion on wars, defence and conflicts since 1945, China hardly indulged itself in any war wholeheartedly since the communist revolution in 1949, allocating massive amounts of capital for developing infrastructure, improving education, promoting research and learning from other advanced countries.
This is perhaps the first time in the history of humankind that a country rose from an agricultural base, completed an industrial phase within a few decades and hit the height of space technology in another few decades. It is now one of the top military powers, besides being the second-largest economy in the world. It left the UK, France, Japan, Germany and a number of other countries behind within 75 years, preparing to defeat the mighty US.
The rise of China could be defined in one sentence: avoidance of conflicts. Unlike China, the US though has been involved in more than 32 conflicts since 1945. Its propensity to indulge in conflicts has been so profound that many intellectuals and prudent politicians have called it the most belligerent nation on earth.
In 2018, former president of the US Jimmy Carter called his country “the most warlike nation in the history of the world” due to a desire to impose American values on other countries. He wrote a letter to Trump in 2019 telling him that China is investing its resources into projects such as high-speed railroads instead of defence spending. It may be mentioned that Carter was the one who oversaw the normalisation of ties with communist China.
Carter revealed this while addressing a gathering at a local church in Georgia. It is said Trump also called the former Nobel laureate, seeking his advice on China. Addressing the gathering, Carter said: “How many miles of high-speed railroad do we have in this country?” Zero, the congregation answered.
“We have wasted, I think, $3 trillion”, Carter said, referring to American military spending.
“China has not wasted a single penny on war, and that’s why they’re ahead of us. In almost every way.
“And I think the difference is if you take $3 trillion and put it in American infrastructure, you’d probably have $2 trillion left over. We’d have a high-speed railroad. We’d have bridges that aren’t collapsing. We’d have roads that are maintained properly. Our education system would be as good as that of, say, South Korea or Hong Kong”.
It is also said that Carter mentioned America’s propensity for waging wars many times. He was quoted as saying in 2018 that in America, there were 226 years of wars since its independence, which took place 242 years ago, thus leaving only 16 years of peace.
It is said that global powers have a strange penchant for picking fights and invading countries. For instance, between 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, and 1914, the outbreak of WWI, the UK was at war for all but fifteen years. That’s 85% of the time. For France, the picture is very similar, albeit a little less so. During the same period, the country was at war for 185 years out of 242, amounting to almost 80%of the time.
The US has been repeating the mistakes of other global powers. If Trump really wants to make a difference, then he needs to put his own house in order instead of lambasting other states. America is the richest country in the world, brimming with wealth and opulence. It has enough resources to arrange housing for every citizen, providing them with free education and medical treatment, besides using its unimaginable material prosperity for the greater good of mankind.
All it has to do is break the shackles of slavery that have been put around its neck by vested interests who want to see the global power in a perpetual state of war. Threats of war and annexations against Palestine, Iran, Iceland and Canada will only serve the interests of those whose wealth depends on these perpetual conflicts.
For such vested interests and those who spend on the non-productive sector, US President Dwight Eisenhower had said while addressing the North American Society of News editors in April 1953: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone, it is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hope of children.”
But despite all the economic hardships that the American people are facing, Trump and his tedious acolytes are in no mood to seek permanent peace in the world. They are either hurling threats at other states themselves or bankrolling those rogue states that are threatening the very existence of other nations. This could turn out to be catastrophic.
The US badly needs heavy investment in infrastructure, which might go some way in stimulating its economy. Citing various reports, the Council on Foreign Relations revealed in 2023 that delays caused by traffic congestion in the US alone cost the economy over $87 billion in 2018. The report noted that US civil aviation directly supports 2.5 million US jobs, and international tourism brings in up to $180 billion in annual tax revenue. “However, flight delays cost the US economy billions of dollars each year, including $33 billion in 2019.”
Social issues are also tearing down communities in America. For instance, over 46 million American students are in the trap of over $1.6 trillion in debt, while more than 770,000 are facing some form of homelessness. In 2022, the country witnessed 1.89 million high school dropouts. These problems could be addressed if Trump chooses to pay heed to the advice of these two former presidents.
