The Trump era: Winning without fighting

OPINION:

Chinese strategist Sun Tzu said fighting and conquering in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence is subduing the enemy without fighting. To win without fighting is the acme of strategy. Winning without fighting is precisely what President Trump is doing.

In world politics, Mr. Trump understands that the People’s Republic of China is the greatest threat to America. His policies are designed to meet that threat without kinetic war. Mr. Trump is employing economic warfare to win without fighting. His administration is essentially rewriting the rules of trade because they have aided China’s rise. He has imposed 20% tariffs on all goods and advanced the necessary steps to decouple U.S. investment and trade from China. He is considering limiting Chinese investment in the U.S. These measures are well-targeted to weaken the Chinese Communist Party by denying its military and economic capital, trade and technology. Starved of U.S. investment and weakened by declining trade, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime is hard-pressed to continue its policies of aggression against U.S. interests.

On Ukraine, Mr. Trump is pressuring both sides to end the horrific war. Ending that conflict opens the door to improving relations with Russia. Mr. Trump’s rapprochement with Russia significantly impacts Mr. Xi’s strategic calculus. It denies Mr. Xi Russia’s nuclear might, eliminates Mr. Xi’s effort to create an anti-U.S. bloc and forces Mr. Xi to address a Russian threat on China’s northern front. Those measures weaken China’s ability to aggress against U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific. Ending the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts allows the Trump administration to focus on China.

Mr. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance have conveyed to NATO allies in the European Union and Britain that they must take their security seriously. This requires spending more on defense and changing the course of the political elite. The European Union, Britain and the U.S. once shared the same values of free expression and debate. Today, the European Union and Britain have abandoned those values and embraced increasingly coercive measures against free speech, free expression and populist political parties while opening their borders to mass immigration by the tens of millions. The European elite will be one of the great challenges of Mr. Trump’s second term.

Regarding the economy, Mr. Trump is trying to make the U.S. a manufacturing superpower. The emphasis on shipbuilding in U.S. yards and the investments by Apple and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. in the U.S. are critical developments to reduce dependence on other countries. At the same time, they strengthen the U.S. economy while protecting the livelihoods of American workers.

Mr. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have emphasized peace through strength. A key part of maintaining strength is the recognition that wokeness is a cancer killing military effectiveness and the warfighting spirit that defined the Pentagon in World War II and the Cold War. Eliminating the wokeness cancer has already boosted U.S. military effectiveness, as recruiting numbers indicate. The “Golden Dome” that Mr. Trump seeks to create will protect the U.S. from missile attacks. The emphasis on securing the Panama Canal by evicting Chinese-controlled companies and their influence will secure that strategic piece of the chessboard for America.

Attention to the Arctic and sub-Arctic spaces, such as Greenland, is essential to hemispheric security as Russia and China expand their presence in that strategic territory.

What Mr. Trump has already accomplished is historic. It makes him a great and unique president. His significance is more than winning without fighting, although that would be enough. He is employing winning without fighting for a great strategic aim. Mr. Trump is securing the foundation of a new era in international and U.S. domestic politics.

Mr. Trump is the first president in a new epoch. Gone is the post-Cold War era when the U.S. could wage wars of choice, such as those in Kosovo or Iraq, cede manufacturing to China or have a political class indifferent to the plight of the American people as the quality of their lives declined.

Under Mr. Trump, the U.S. is transitioning from the expectations of the post-Cold War world to the new era. “America First” has many components, but three key themes are clear and all center on the American people.

The first concerns American society and economy. Mr. Trump wants the American people and their succeeding generations to enjoy the American dream as did previous generations. The second is that the American people and interests are protected from a dangerous world. He understands the dangers of adversaries such as China and the costs of war. Thus, he is striving to weaken Beijing without resorting to war — that is, to win without fighting. Third, the American people have their morale restored after decades of savage, unrelenting attacks from the political left to break the American people’s soul. Americans again understand the “Spirit of 1776” and what makes the American founding, American history and culture, and the American people unique. The country has a rebirth of patriotism, and tens of millions of Americans have found their voices in Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump’s vision for America and his interest in Americans’ lives, well-being, employment, hopes, aspirations and security, as well as their optimism, faith and love of country, define him as a great American and preeminent American president.

• Bradley A. Thayer is a co-author of “Understanding the China Threat” and “Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure.” His opinions are his own.