The US is dropping strategic floor to China attributable to US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the worldwide stage and transactional method to overseas coverage, a Democrat-authored report has warned.
Surveying Trump’s first six months in workplace, the report warns that his tenure has “considerably undermined” Washington’s potential to compete with China.
The report highlights employees reductions on the US Division of State and the “chaotic gutting” of the USA Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID) and the US Company for International Media – which oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Asia – as strikes which have weakened US energy and affect.
The report, launched on Monday by Democratic members of the US Senate International Relations Committee, describes China as a “strategic problem distinct from any in our nation’s historical past” with a “long-term technique to unseat the USA because the world’s main superpower”.
“Whereas President Trump retreats from each nook of the world – attacking allies, slashing America’s diplomatic instruments and embracing adversaries – China is constructing affect, increasing relationships and reshaping the worldwide order to its benefit,” US Senator Jeanne Shaheen stated in an announcement.
In keeping with the report, China has moved to fill the void created by Trump’s withdrawal from world initiatives such because the World Well being Group and the Paris Local weather Settlement by boosting funding abroad and rising its diplomatic footprint.
Trump’s tariff struggle towards US commerce companions has additionally undercut “alliances and financial partnerships”, in keeping with the report, pushing even shut US allies within the route of China.
The warning from Democrats, who maintain a minority of seats in each Congressional homes, dovetails with Tuesday’s launch of an opinion survey pointing to a worldwide shift in attitudes in favour of China.
Attitudes in the direction of China have improved in 15 out of 25 international locations, together with Mexico, South Africa, Turkiye, Kenya and Indonesia, in contrast with final 12 months, the nonpartisan US-based Pew Analysis Middle stated.
Whereas general world notion of China stays largely adverse – with a median 54 % of respondents reporting an unfavourable notion – the nation is now seen because the world’s high financial energy with a slight edge over the US, in keeping with Pew.
The survey discovered that 41 % of respondents seen China because the world’s “high economic system” in 2025, in contrast with 39 % for the US.
A number of the sharpest shifts in notion had been seen in 10 high-income international locations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
Throughout this group, solely 35 % of respondents held a beneficial view of the US, down from 51 % in 2024, in keeping with Pew, with double-digit drops in sentiment recorded in key Asia Pacific allies South Korea, Japan and Australia.
China acquired a bump in approval throughout the ten high-income international locations, rising from 23 % favourability in 2024 to 32 % in 2025.
Confidence within the US president throughout high-income international locations fell from 53 % in 2024, when US President Joe Biden was in workplace, to 22 % following Trump’s return to the White Home, in keeping with Pew.
The US president’s approval score is now barely decrease than that of Chinese language President Xi Jinping, who noticed a slight uptick in approval from 17 % in 2024 to 24 % in 2025.
Trump’s commerce struggle has engendered “a lot deeper scepticism and mistrust of the USA throughout Asia as we speak”, stated Ian Chong, an affiliate professor of political science on the Nationwide College of Singapore.
“For some, cooperation with [China] seems to be a gorgeous different,” Chong advised Al Jazeera.
“Nonetheless, the shortage of sturdy responses to the US tariffs additionally replicate a actuality the place economies within the area and past realise that in addition they can not do with out financial cooperation with the USA, nevertheless a lot they might dislike it.”
William Yang, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia on the Brussels-based Disaster Group suppose tank, stated China is more and more seen as a extra dependable enterprise associate amid the uncertainty emanating from the US.
“As international locations grapple with the uncertainties introduced by the Trump administration, a rising variety of them, together with shut US allies within the Indo-Pacific area, are looking for to stabilise their relationship with China by rising high-level bilateral exchanges,” Yang advised Al Jazeera.
Leaders of a number of US allies have visited China since Trump took workplace, together with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Exterior Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, each of whom met Chinese language President Xi Jinping this week in Beijing.
Earlier this 12 months, Xi additionally acquired the prime ministers of Singapore, New Zealand and Spain, in addition to the president of Brazil.
“There are nonetheless elementary considerations about sure Chinese language practices, particularly within the safety sector, however with a purpose to guarantee they’ve extra bandwidth to deal with the added uncertainties created by the Trump administration, these international locations see the necessity to stabilise their relationship with China,” Yang stated.
“That, in flip, would possibly end in a slight enchancment of views on China.”