Geoeconomics for the Sake of Geopolitics: U.S. Trade Policy Towards China Since 2017

Su Jiangli

Shanxi University

Geoeconomics involves using economic power for geopolitical purposes, treating the “logic of conflict in the language of commerce” to achieve security or strategic objectives. It has become a dominant “war by other means” for the U.S. to achieve geopolitical goals since 2017. Therefore, this article aims to examine the reality of U.S. trade policy towards China since President Trump’s first term from the perspective of geoeconomics. It reviews the resurgence of the geoeconomic narrative, analyzes how geoeconomic instruments manifest in U.S. trade policies towards China, and conceptualizes U.S. geoeconomic strategy through a three-layered concentric circle framework. It argues that weaponizing interdependence, dismantling multilateral trade mechanisms like the WTO, and doubling down on a “small yard, high fence: strategy will fragment global supply chains, erode economic efficiency, and destabilize the international economic order. Ultimately, this approach will boomerang on its initiator, severely compromising the economic well-being of the American public.

Article link: https://www.asianinstituteofresearch.org/JSParchives/geoeconomics-for-the-sake-of-geopolitics%3A-u.s.-trade-policy-towards-china-since-2017