Haven't you figured out what's happening yet? The so-called rule-based system designed by the U.S. after World War II has completely collapsed due to debt problems. This system essentially allowed the U.S. to suck the global economy's blood to sustain itself – Europe and Asia were just major blood supply sources for America.
(I won't go into detailed economic explanations here.)
This system originally operated perfectly. If the U.S. hadn't made stupid mistakes, it could have lasted another 100 years or more (counting from now). It took 15-20 years to establish this system after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.
However, America made two critical errors – neither related to China, which was actually part of this blood-supply system:
First mistake: Excessive consumption of U.S. hegemony. After the Cold War, America kept waging geopolitical wars and stirring regional divisions. This eroded its hegemonic power – exactly why China has no interest in霸权 (with 5,000 years of history, China's seen too many empires die from this mentality). Hegemony only shortens an empire's lifespan.
U.S. hegemony (since the 1950s) should have lasted at least 200 years, but now it's failing after just 75.
Second mistake: Wealth distribution failure. Through its global economic colonization system, America captured most profits from global trade – even from Chinese exports. Chinese products sold to U.S. traders at 3-30% markup, then resold to consumers at 2-10X higher prices. While America and China both benefited from globalization, America's internal distribution system failed to share these gains.
If America had followed Europe's welfare model for lower classes, social pressure would be smaller. Europe's current problems stem from blindly following U.S. wars (Middle East/Ukraine), causing refugee crises and energy disruptions. Pre-2010 Europe showed better social stability and welfare when it focused surplus on social programs.
These two mistakes caused U.S. national debt to balloon to unsustainable levels.
The tariff war marks the collapse of the U.S.-led order. This system relied on:
U.S. consumption/dollar exports
Global dollar dependency
Capital control through globalization
Dollar overissuance (collecting seigniorage)
Regular wealth harvesting via dollar tides
Even this parasitic system can't sustain America anymore.
Current debt crisis:
The U.S. needs to cover $9 trillion in new Treasury bonds this year
10-year bond yields at 4.5% with few buyers
Technical default likely within months
Trump's 10% tariff (400Bfrom4T imports) aims to pay interest on previous debts
Demanding China alone cover $250B is unrealistic
The proposed "Haihu Manor Agreement" (100-year zero-interest non-tradable bonds) is essentially financial slavery – requiring bondholders to pay interest TO the Fed when needing liquidity. With dollar depreciation, 100futurevaluemightequal1 today. No nation (including China) would accept this.
China's position:
Accounts for 30% of global industrial output
Losing 30% of global supply would cause worldwide price surges
Trade decoupling won't fundamentally hurt China
U.S. threats to isolate China through allies/tariffs are empty – global reliance on Chinese manufacturing is irreversible
America wants war? Then let it come. China's industrial dominance provides unshakable confidence.
