In Episode 405 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Rush Doshi, former Deputy Senior Director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council about the state of the U.S.-China competition, the Trump administration’s China policy, and how the United States can compete successfully with China without risking imperial overreach or bankrupting the nation.

Foreign policy in the first two months of the Trump administration has focused predominantly on ending America’s war in Ukraine, resetting U.S. commitments to Europe through NATO, reasserting dominance over the Western Hemisphere, and rebalancing trade relationships with both allies and competitors. What has not been clearly articulated in the Trump administration’s public communications is how America’s grand strategic vision—and any potential “Trump doctrine”—will look over the next four years, how China fits into that vision, and how success should be measured.

Demetri and Rush begin their conversation by reviewing Chinese party documents, materials, and analyses of China’s communications, conduct, and behavior over the last three decades to understand Beijing’s intentions and how they should shape U.S. policy during a time of waning relative American power amid a geopolitical rebalancing. They examine the new bipartisan consensus on China, discuss the Trump administration’s strategic foreign policy tactics and objectives—including the use of tariffs and incentives to rebuild American industrial capacity—and explore how the United States can successfully compete with China without risking imperial overreach or bankrupting the nation.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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Episode Recorded on 03/11/2025

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