NEW YORK, January 22. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump's policies effectively mean Washington's abandonment of its role as the world's economic leader, which strengthens China's position on the international stage, The New York Times wrote.
In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump declared that the United States no longer intends to ensure open markets and military protection for its allies for no reason, according to the publication. The US keeps the entire world afloat, and everyone used it, Trump believes. According to the NYT, such rhetoric signifies the dismantling of the liberal economic order built after World War II. Against this backdrop, China, despite continued mistrust from the West, is increasingly positioning itself as a supporter of globalization and multilateral cooperation.
The newspaper recalled that Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke out against protectionism back in 2017 in Davos, declaring that trade wars have no winners. Now, Beijing is defending the very principles of international trade that the Trump administration is abandoning, the newspaper said.
The publication also noted the concerns of European countries caught between the US and China, especially amid Washington's trade threats and Trump's statements about NATO and Greenland. As a result, the United States is losing its status as a predictable center of the global economic system, and China is receiving the maximum benefit from it, according to the paper.