K R Bolton
The great myth of Sino-US “rivalry” is an odd assumption given that the economies of the USA and China have long been symbiotic, to the extent that historian Niall Ferguson referred to the relationship as “Chimerica”. Now even Ferguson however has reversed his previous position and sees the USA and China locked in a “Cold War II” conflict.i I suggest that Trump’s supposed loggerheads with China obscures an ongoing relationship that has never deviated in real terms, and that Ferguson had it right the first time, and errs with his reconsideration. Even as a matter of public policy, Trump’s agenda is that of correcting the trade deficit. A “conflict” between the two implies efforts to reduce the economic relationship. To the contrary, the tariffs were intended to pressure China towards a more open market. Wanting to increase trade with a state indicates a desire for alliance, not antagonism.
If Trump’s supposedly “populist” tariffs had been intended to re-industrialize the USA, with the implication of autarchy this would have been a genuine revolt against the globalization process. However, the intention is to pressure China to allow increased US investment and exports. This was clearly stated in the trade talks between Trump and Xi in 2025 on “rebalancing trade with China”.ii Genuine “conflict” implies economic embargoes, such as those used against South Africa from 1963, and Rhodesia from 1965; states that had genuinely conflicted with US and Wall Street geopolitical and economic interests. There has never been an attempt to strangulate China economically, even during the Cold War or, better said, especially during the Cold War, when the USA and China sought each other out in an alliance against the USSR that rendered so-called “ideological” rivalries irrelevant.
Leading Global CEO’s in Trump Delegation
The US trade delegation that was part of Trump’s team in China in May 2026 indicates that the US attitude remains one of cultivating the Sino-US relationship, that was initiated by the globalists, and symbolized by David Rockfeller’s return from China in 1973, as fulsome in his praises as if he had been a member of the Progressive Labor Party. To quote:
The social experiment in China under. Chairman Mao’s leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history. How extensively China opens up and how the world interprets and reacts to the social innovations and life styles she has developed is certain to have a profound impact on the future of many nations.iii
That China’s link to globalism remains, as exemplified by Rockefeller’s legacy, is indicated by its representation on the Trilateral Commission, while Russia is not. The inclusion of one and the exclusion of the other is surely something to consider, given that the criterion for membership is “sharing common values and a commitment to the rule of law, open economies and societies, and democratic principles”.iv For the globalist elite China falls within this category, Russia does not.
The team included representatives from the following corporations, according to an Al Jazeera report:
SpaceX and Tesla, Apple, Goldman Sachs,v BlackRock,vi Citibank, Blackstone,vii Boeing, Nvidia,viii Meta,ix Cargill,x Visa, Cisco, Qualcomm,xi Coherent,xii Micron,xiii GE Aerospace, Illumina,xiv and Mastercard.
“The US president is pushing for a commitment from China to open its economy to American firms”, states the Al Jazeera report, which specifies how China is essential to the US oligarchy.xv
The corporations represented in the Trump delegation include top players in finance and in strategic industries of the type that has been termed the “military industrial-complex”, although there is seldom genuine commonality between merchant and soldierly outlooks. Indeed, it has been US-based corporations which have played a major part in constructing China’s war-machine,xvi while the military brass of both states are permitted to play their war games, and saber-rattling on the world stage as part of the smoke-and-mirrors act that keeps the masses distracted, while matters are quite different within boardrooms and think tanks.
I have documented the actual relationship between the USA and the Chinese Communist Party since the USA betrayed the Nationalist Army of Chiang Kai-shek in Manchuria in 1946. One can include the betrayal of Tibet to China, and of the Republic of China (Taiwan) through US duplicity at the UNO in 1979, and much else as precursors to the present Trump endeavour.xvii The betrayal is something that the much-maligned Senator Joseph McCarthy attempted to expose, and documented in America’s Retreat from Victory, in 1951.xviii What the beleaguered Senator was on the verge of understanding (with his attention starting to be directed towards the CIA, which meant his final downfall) was that the real enemies were not so much in the Kremlin as in US boardrooms.xix Within such contexts, the Trump mission to China might be seen as the continuation of a process that has been ongoing since the “open door” trade demands by the USA in the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.xx
i David Barboza, Niall Ferguson on Cold War II and the Death of ‘Chimerica’, The Wire China, 8 November 2020; https://www.thewirechina.com/2020/11/08/niall-ferguson-on-cold-war-ii-and-the-death-of-chimerica/
ii Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Strikes Deal on Economic and Trade Relations with China, The White House, 1 November 2025; https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/11/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-strikes-deal-on-economic-and-trade-relations-with-china/
iii David Rockefeller, From a China Traveler, New York Times, August 10, 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/10/archives/from-a-china-traveler.html
iv About the Trilateral Commission, https://www.trilateral.org/about/
v Goldman Sachs has become one of the world’s leading investment banking corporations, overtaking more familiar names such as Rockefeller and Rothschild.
vi BlackRock is the world’s largest global asset manager.
vii Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager.
viii Nvidia Corporation develops graphics processing units, systems on chips, and application programming interfaces for data science, high-performance computing, video games, and mobile and automotive applications.
ix Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.) is the parent company of social media giants, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
x Cargill Inc. is a US multinational food corporation.
xi Qualcomm designs and builds semiconductors, processors, and wireless communication technologies.
xiiCoherent Corp.manufactures engineered materials, optoelectronic components, and laser systems.
xiii Micron Technology, Inc. designs and manufactures semiconductor memory and data storage products.
xivIllumina, Inc.is a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures, and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function.
xv Who are the US CEOs in China with Trump, and what’s in it for them?, Al Jazeera, 14 May 2026; https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/14/who-are-the-us-ceos-in-china-with-trump-and-whats-in-it-for-them
xvi K R Bolton, Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific (London: Black House Publishing, 2013), pp. 61-66.
xvii K R Bolton, Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, inter alia.
xviii Jospeh R. McCarthy, America’s Retreat from Victory (1951), online: https://www.heritage-history.com/site/hclass/secret_societies/ebooks/pdf/mccarthy_retreat.pdf
Also: John T. Flynn, While You Slept: Our Tragedy in Asia and who made it (Devin Adair, 1951; The Americanist Library, 1965); online: https://cdn.mises.org/While%20You%20Slept_2.pdf
xix K R Bolton, Joe McCarthy’s Real Enemies, The Occidental Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4, Winter 2010-2011.
xx John Hay, Secretary of State John Hay and the Open Door in China, 1899–1900, Office of the Historian; https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/hay-and-china
The European New Zealander 