Why “China First” Will Fail
Key takeaways
- The Limits and Lessons of a Transactional Foreign Policy
- For nearly eight decades, the United States has served as the chief architect and guarantor of the international order.
- In countries long allied with the United States, views of China are becoming more favorable.
The Limits and Lessons of a Transactional Foreign Policy
For nearly eight decades, the United States has served as the chief architect and guarantor of the international order. But today, under the banner of “America first,” Washington is abandoning responsibility for sustaining the system it built after World War II. As the United States retreats from global leadership and challenges the norms it once fostered and the order it once upheld, the world is waiting to see whether Beijing steps up.
In countries long allied with the United States, views of China are becoming more favorable. A survey conducted by Politico in February 2026, for instance, showed that people in Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom support deeper engagement with China amid declining confidence in the United States as a global leader. Beijing has been quick to encourage this view, presenting itself as a defender of multilateralism, a champion of the developing world, and a guardian of what it calls a more “just and equitable” international order. In this telling, China offers stability and cooperation at a time when the United States is acting erratically and unilaterally.