In a twist of tragic irony, the rise of the world’s most formidable authoritarian power is being funded by the free world.
How, you may ask? Since China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, the West has operated under a delusion. We believed that the free trade would encourage democracy. But two decades later, the outcome is clear and visible. China is now the second-largest economy in the world. It is on track to surpass the U.S. and is rapidly growing its military and political reach. As Robert Lighthizer stated in No Trade Is Free, “America is the first country in history to fund the rise of its rivals.”
The consequences of this funding are visible everywhere. We can see that China now controls vital infrastructure in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Its Belt and Road Initiative spreads influence through ports and pipelines. Its dominance in rare earth minerals, semiconductors, and global manufacturing chains makes it increasingly untouchable.
And yet, no one wants to talk about the real error that how the US handed them this power.
Edouard Prisse’s “We Were Funding China’s Growth That Must Stop!” declares this fact and demonstrates the extent of our blindness. The fundamental causes of this mess are the erroneous presumptions of 2001. We thought market integration would liberalize China. Instead, it emboldened Beijing to centralize more tightly. Western officials, like Clinton’s WTO advisers and EU economic appointees, failed to understand basic macroeconomics.
While the military rivalry with China is real, the economic battle is even more critical and still poorly understood. Western governments pour billions into response strategies while ignoring the obvious: we keep trading with China as though nothing is wrong. As long as our economies continue to enrich Beijing, no number of sanctions or summits will slow their ascent.
Even worse, our leaders keep making embarrassing, costly errors. At the 2022 G7 Summit, $590 billion was pledged to counter China’s Belt and Road initiative. This enormous investment, however, overlooked the crucial reality that the cost of producing Western goods is still much higher. The imbalance between cost and trade is the issue. The G7 quietly abandoned the initiative, but the reasoning behind it remains a sign of profound economic ignorance.
Meanwhile, in Europe, economic policy is in the hands of political scientists and financiers with little macroeconomic training. In Prisse’s detailed critique, figures like Gentiloni and Draghi have made fundamental missteps that are now guiding EU trade strategy. And corporate lobbying in both the EU and the U.S. only makes reform harder, as short-term profits drown out long-term survival.
Even though China’s strength poses a greater threat, we cannot ignore the fact that we are not to blame. This can be fixed by considering equal trade and rejecting the myth of “free trade.” This approach protects our values, industries, and future. The book outlines a clear path forward to initiate this equal trade, but we must first summon the courage to admit our error.
Order your copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967963053.
