2001 George W Bush “you are either with us or with the terrorists”

2025 Donald J Trump “we might force countries to choose between the US and China”

We’ve all seen the game before and, arguably, America had far greater leverage 25 years ago. Arguably. And it still turned out horribly wrong.

Over the past decade and a half, the US has spent blood and treasure on a series of misadventures. China, on the other hand, has deployed trade surpluses to build.