Donald Trump has once again declared war on China — but this time, in the name of “global unity.” The irony is striking: the same president who threatens his allies with tariffs, blocks trade deals, and sabotages multilateral agreements is now calling for a united front against Beijing.
Between praise and threat, Trump once again displays his unpredictable style — at times boasting of his “very good relationship” with Xi Jinping, at others promising retaliation and boycotts. It is diplomacy as spectacle, where every gesture primarily serves the U.S. domestic — and international — political game. Take the case of Argentina: if Javier Milei wins the elections, Trump’s enthusiasm will be immediate — not out of solidarity with Buenos Aires, but because he will recognize in Milei a figure that reinforces his own political narrative. The aid — financial and otherwise — in that case would not be for Argentina, but for Trump’s personal crusade for influence and reflection.
The problem goes beyond incoherence. By turning every partner into an adversary — from Europe to Canada, from Japan to South Korea — Trump weakens the very bloc he claims to want to lead. He speaks of “defending the free world” against China’s economic coercion, yet he himself uses tariffs and protectionism as political weapons.
The result is a global climate of distrust: divided allies, weakened multilateral institutions, and an increasingly fragmented international order. Trump calls for unity, but his foreign policy is, at heart, a handbook on isolation. Perhaps that is the real point: Trump does not want a united world — he wants an obedient one.
The episode of so-called “rare earths” is just the latest example of a pattern that has repeated since his first term. Whenever the U.S. economy comes under pressure, Trump looks for an external enemy to justify his rhetoric of strength.
By turning a trade dispute into a civilizational confrontation, Trump once again plays the card of economic nationalism. His message is simple: you are either with us or with them. But in the real world, economies are intertwined — and even major American corporations depend on Chinese supply chains. It is American capitalism itself that exposes the falsehood of his “cold war” rhetoric.
While accusing China of “coercive maneuvers,” Trump ignores the fact that he is waging an economic blackmail campaign against his own allies. Trump does not want partners — he wants subordinates. For him, diplomacy is merely an extension of his business logic: every relationship is a transaction, every ally an asset to be valued or discarded according to immediate usefulness. Loyalty is demanded, never reciprocated.
Trump is not only against China. He is against everything that does not obey him: multilateralism, science, consensus, even the very idea of predictability. His true adversary is the world as it is — complex, interdependent, and impossible to dominate by decree.
*Editor-in-chief of PLATAFORMA
