The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Strategy to Trump China on the World Stage

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

“ China is ascendant and we are static.”   President Donald Trump is right to be worried about China’s trade surplus, military expansion, influence in regions like Panama and the Arctic, and the broader global impact of its rise. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the reasons why Trump has made maintaining dominance over China a central issue for his administration on this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”     “He’s worried that China is intimidating countries in the Pacific and in Asia. Some of our strongest friends—Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam. Saying things like, "The United States is in decline. You better cut a deal.     “ We don’t look at productivity in stocks but whether they’re politically correct or DEI and woke… The Chinese love it. We will not be competitive.” Link to the full video in the show notes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. I'd like to talk today about China, China, China. It seems to be on Donald Trump's mind. He's worried about their trade surplus. He's worried about them sending raw product of fint. He's worried that China is intimidating countries in the Pacific and in Asia, some of our strongest friends.

So what he's doing is in all these areas is identifying the threat that China poses and why we, with an open, transparent and capital society can guarantee our premiums if we make changes. If we're going to do this, we have to have trade parity. We can't keep running up a trillion, a trillion a half dollars in trade surplus. China is ascendant and we are static. Trump comes in and he says, right now, we still have the lead and we will maintain this lead. But if we continue down the trajectory we're on, we're going to be in big trouble.

Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. I'd like to talk today about China. It seems to be on everybody's mind, but explicitly on Donald Trump's mind. That's the one common denominator that explains his interest on Panama and not to turn over our key transit from east to west coast to China. China has no business there. And same thing with Greenland. He's worried about the Chinese having access to the Arctic Circle. He's worried about their trade surplus.

He's worried about circumventing unfair trade by his simple. their products in Mexico. He's worried about them sending raw product of fentanyl. He's worried about their surrogates, the sort of mad pit bulls like North Korea and increasingly Iran, that he cuts the leash every once in a while and says, he being China, go to it, cause chaos. He's worried that China is intimidating countries in the Pacific and in Asia. Some of our strongest friends, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, saying things like the United States is in decline, you better cut a deal. Essentially, they're like Japan in 1940,

and they're trying to re-fashion something like the Japanese, East Asian co-prosperity sphere that was a mercantile system aimed at the West, which soon they were to be at war at. So is it all depression? No, what Trump is saying is for us to stop this, we've got to balance our budget. We can't spend $3 billion a day on interest. If we're going to do this, we have to have trade parity. We can't keep running up a trillion, a trillion a half dollars in trade surplus.

And when he looks at us at home, he says the ESG, this equity, social governance that we don't look at productivity in stocks, but whether they're politically correct or DIY and woke, this anti-marital. It doesn't work. The Chinese love it. We will not be competitive. If we look at the border, you can't have an open border with 30 million illegal aliens. That is a drag on productivity. You have to have security. So what he's doing is in all these areas is identifying the threat that China poses and why we, with an open, transparent, and capitalist society can achieve our preeminence or guarantee our preeminence if we make changes. And it's not necessarily a pessimistic. this picture. I just give you some statistics. Yes, China has 2,000 fighters. We have 1,500. But fighters

aren't the only story. They're bombers. Their logistic plane, their intelligence planes. When you look at all of the U.S. Air Force, we have about 1,500 more planes. And we have over 500 fifth-generation fighters. I think they only have about 60. Yes, they are building 200 times more ships than we are. Remember, we built the largest navy in World War II that turned out by 1945 larger than all the navies in the world. We were building a Liberty or Freedom Mercantile vessel, bid 10,000,000 tons vessels every five days. We built 3,000 of them. We built 120 carriers of different classifications. So we were the shipbuilder and now China is.

But when you actually look at our fleets, we still, still have 11 fleet carriers and army groups, as Navy groups around them. There are over 100,000 tons. They're all nuclear. China has two, and it's billing a third. We have about 87, 85 to 87 submarines. They have about 60, but every one of ours is nuclear, not theirs. They only have about six or seven.

If you look at all of these statistics on economics, they have 1.4 billion people. We have about 335, 340 million people, but we produce one and a half times of nominal GDP that's China. So one American produces one and a half times more goods and services than his four Chinese counterparts. If you look at per capita income, we're still ranked six in the world. China's 73. Americans have a lot more purchasing power per capita than Chinese. So let me put this all together in conclusion. China is ascendant and we are static.

Trump comes in and he's looking at things at home that will restore our global preeminence. Fiscal discipline, secure borders, merit best. based education, energy development. And he says, right now, we still have the lead, and we will maintain this lead. But if we continue down the trajectory we're going to be in big trouble. Final note, we have 5,500 deliverable nuclear weapons. China has about 500, but they're billing six or seven a month. And they want to get up to 1,000 and five years and then keep going.

So what Trump is doing again is he's saying right now our system is much superior, energy, agriculture, productivity, GDP, per capita income. But the trends in the future are not good. And if we don't change, our rival will dominate the world. And I'm not going to let that happen on my watch. I think that explains a lot of his otherwise sometimes inexplicable worries from Greenland to Panama to the border to our universities. This is Victor Davis Hansen for The Daily Signal. Thank you for watching today's podcast. And for more news like that, subscribe to the Daily Signal.

Maybe you can check out my own website at victorhansson.com for podcast, lectures, ultra-series behind a paywall, but more importantly, just daily columns that are accessible and free to everyone. Thank you very much.