(RNS) — Stable relations with China are good for both countries and good for the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is getting the United States he always wanted. Since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, Washington has grown less confident in its global purpose, less committed to the rules-based order it once ...

In 2019, the situation escalated further. The Trump administration imposed additional 15 percent tariffs on another $120 billion worth of Chinese goods, which brought the total to around $370 billion. By this point, both countries had committed to a series of tariffs on a massive scale, with global supply chains under increasing strain.

The problem with the pre-Trump U.S.-China trade boom was that it was so lopsided. China sold far more to the United States than it bought. The U.S. deficit in the trade of goods and services with China peaked at $377 billion in 2018. Last year, it was down to $168 billion, the lowest since 2004.

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, said during an interview with Bloomberg that he has heard from people in Asian countries that they no longer feel they can depend on the U.S. for protection and will have no choice but to accept China as the center of world order.