Signal US strategy documents designate China a strategic adversary and geopolitical rival

Summary

Official US documents under the second Trump administration label China an adversary and a rival, and more specifically a strategic adversary and a geopolitical rival. Washington views China's drive to become a manufacturing, technology, internet and space power as a threat to America First, a shock to US global influence and a challenge to US hegemony. The 2025 intelligence threat assessment describes China as concentrating centralised, state-led capital on dominating global markets and strategic supply chains such as critical minerals and shipping while fostering other countries' dependence. The 2025 National Security Strategy calls for rebalancing US-China economic relations around reciprocity and fairness and lists harms that Washington intends to end. The report reads these harms, from predatory subsidies and intellectual property theft to fentanyl precursor exports, as effectively targeting China.