Trump has sent our trade partners and best scientists and engineers to China, launching its sluggish economy into recovery mode and rapidly propelling its research beyond ours. China’s trade surplus hit a record $1.2 trillion and foreign investment in China hit another record at $100 billion. And the yuan accelerated its replacement of the dollar in China trade, increasing from 17.6% since Trump took office to 53%, surpassing the dollar’s percentage in 2025.
The swing towards China’s political, scientific, technological and economic dominance will continue as long as Trump bullies our allies and trade partners, menaces our immigrants and stifles immigration. Meanwhile the Congressional Republicans won’t meddle with his insanity.
For the first time since Trump took office, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited China. He’s also leading a delegation of more than 50 British companies from sectors such as finance, healthcare and manufacturing to sign trade and investment agreements.
Starmer’s visit follows a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney where the two nations signed an agreement to tear down trade barriers and forge a new strategic relationship because, as Carney put it, China is “a more predictable and reliable partner” than the U.S. The two countries expect China to buy agricultural products from Canadian farmers that will replace products formerly purchased from U.S. farmers.
India and the European Union just sealed a colossal free trade agreement that creates a $2B market that will bolster their trading universe and their economies. The agreement will account for nearly a quarter of global GDP and exclude the U.S. while trade deals between the U.S. and India could end this year due to Trump’s tariffs.
Just last week, the European Union signed a free trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc that comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It will boost their economies and create one of the world’s largest free trade zones, including more than 700 million people. Mercosur eliminated duties on 91% of EU exports while Trump keeps hurling tariffs and trade threats at any country that irritates him.
China has also exploited Trump’s hostility towards immigrants by seeking and welcoming qualified experts to China to advance its progress in science, technology, engineering and medicine. The list of experts leaving the U.S. for China is growing: a Princeton nuclear physicist, a mechanical engineer who helped NASA explore the possibility of manufacturing in space, a US National Institutes of Health neurobiologist, celebrated mathematicians, and over half a dozen AI experts. At least 85 U.S. scientists have joined Chinese research institutions since the start of last year, with more than half making the move in 2025. The loss of these experts, not surprisingly, follows Trump slashing the budgets for research in many areas crucial to the U.S.
China is also culling experts from across the globe, many of whom would have come to the U.S. but for Trump’s hostility towards immigrants. He’s imposed a $100,000for employers filing H-1B visa applications, expounded hostile immigration rhetoric, threatened and employed violence towards immigrants, and froze U.S. borders.
Unless Trump reverses course or the Republicans find courage and integrity, the U.S. will suffer lasting economic and geopolitical costs for years to come. What’s most alarming is that Congressional Republicans are giving an unhinge madman free reign to upend our economy, shame America and destroy the trust and influence it took seventy years to earn.
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