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Making America great again? Evaluating Trump’s China strategy at the one-year mark

Brookings | 2026-02-26 | diplomacy

Topics: AI, China, Climate, Europe, Indo-Pacific, Middle East, Russia, Taiwan, Trade, United States

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English Summary

This Brookings report finds that the Trump administration’s second-term China strategy has produced significant rhetoric but few measurable results after one year. Key economic indicators like manufacturing employment and industrial production remain stagnant despite high-profile investment pledges, while U.S. global standing among allies has declined sharply. In technology, inconsistent export controls and infrastructure bottlenecks are straining America’s lead in AI against a more self-sufficient Chinese ecosystem. Consequently, the administration must shift from transactional signaling to sustained policy execution and alliance rebuilding to effectively reduce strategic dependencies and counter Beijing's influence.

中文摘要

這份布魯金斯學會報告指出,川普政府第二任期的對華戰略在推行一年後,呈現「口號多、實效少」的局面。儘管政府曾高調宣傳投資承諾,但製造業就業與工業生產等核心經濟指標依舊停滯不前,且美國在盟友間的全球地位顯著下滑。在科技競爭方面,不一致的出口管制與基礎設施瓶頸,正使美國在對抗日益自給自足的中國生態系統時,其人工智慧領域的領先優勢承受沉重壓力。因此,政府必須從交易式表態轉向持續的政策執行與盟友關係重建,方能有效減少戰略依賴並應對北京的影響力。

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