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. However, this paper contends that such containment strategies have backfired. Rather than halting China’s ascent, they have accelerated its drive for technological self-reliance, catalyzed alternative trade and investment regimes, and intensified the fragmentation of the global economy. Moreover, sweeping tariffs, such as the April 2, 2025, “Liberation Day” escalation, have exposed structural vulnerabilities in the American economy, destabilized financial markets, and undermined international confidence in U.S. leadership. Drawing on a political economy framework, the paper critiques the strategic mistakes embedded in U.S. policy—particularly its failure to align trade actions with domestic capacity-building and global coalition-building. It proposes an alternative roadmap anchored in phased industrial strategy, multilateral coordination, and institutional foresight. Without a strategic recalibration, Washington’s efforts to contain China may only accelerate the emergence of a multipolar global order it seeks to forestall.