Strategic Drift and Economic Coercion: Reassessing U.S. Containment Policy in a Multipolar World

This paper examines the strategic trajectory of U.S. economic policy in response to China’s rise and argues that efforts to contain Beijing have produced unintended and counterproductive outcomes. Once the architect of a liberal international order rooted in openness and interdependence, the United States has increasingly adopted coercive economic measures—such as tariffs, export controls, investment restrictions, and friend-shoring—to preserve its global primacy. Beginning with the Trump administration and deepening under Biden, this shift toward economic nationalism reflects a growing concern that China’s technological and manufacturing dominance poses an existential threat to U.S. hegemony.