The true faces of the America First

America First has always been haunting the world with different brandings one after another

By Zhao Shiren
January 19, 2025
US President-elect Donald Trump (left) pictured with Brooke Rollins at the America First Policy Institute America First Agenda Summit in Washington, US on July 26, 2022. — Reuters

Consul General of China in Lahore

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Donald Trump returns back to the White House on Monday (20th January), and his doctrine of America First will again become the focus of contention for international community and regional countries.

America First has always been haunting the world with different brandings one after another. Like same old wine in a new bottle, it resorts to pressurize and contain China, and provoking regional countries to compete with each other to ensure the US global dominance.

America First is, by nature, a populist policy and an imperial quest to maintain the US political hegemony. For a long time, the US has been persistent in transforming other countries and shaping the international order according to its own value and interests. Under the guises of democracy and human rights, the United States has interfered in the domestic affairs of many other countries, and indulged in fostering anti-government and anti-state elements to carry out subversive activities. Based on its own interests, the US has more than often classified other countries into different categories like partners, allies, competitors, adversaries, enemies, pariah states, and rogue states, etc.

Self-interest entices the US to develop relations with other countries and regions, and it will jump in immediately when there is a high stake. Otherwise, the US just remains indifferent. There is no exception in dealing with its so-called close allies. For example, Donald Trump’s recent public posturing on taking over the Panama Canal and Greenland has vividly showcased MAGA (Make America Great Again)’s marriage of convenience with Panama and Denmark.

In the multilateral arena, America First also adopted the “free to quit” approach by taking what is agreeable and rejecting what is not, and treated international agreements and world institutions in an irresponsible fashion, willingly abusing international norms and rules. Donald Trump’s last term has witnessed the unilateral and forceful withdrawals by the United States from the UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Paris Agreement, and other important international platforms. The US has even defaulted on its climate financing commitments to developing countries.

While as soon as there is a need, the US may instantly brag that “America is back.” The US government has attempted to take advantage of the climate change to control the global green supply chain and maintain its leading position through climate governance.

America First also pursues military hegemony. In almost two and half centuries since its inception, the United States has been engaged in numerous battles and wars. Only a short span of 16 years didn’t see the eruption of wars concerning the US. The war machine launched by it has spared almost no corner of the globe and inflicted immense sufferings on the general populace, putting people worldwide in dire straits.

In the first eight months of 2024, the US foreign military sales reached more than $80 billion, surpassing its total amount in fiscal year 2023. William Hartung, a research fellow based in Washington DC, writes that the US foreign policy decision-making has been largely held hostage to the military-industrial complex.

Since 2001, the wars and military operations waged by the United States in the name of anti-terror have resulted in more than 900,000 deaths, of whom about 335,000 are civilians. Millions have been injured, and tens of millions have been displaced. In the same time, the US has profiteered from its pursuit of military might. The former US Secretary of State Blinken has once openly said that most of the money spent on military aid to Ukraine will come back to the US and help create huge job opportunities. It clearly shows that peace is not at the bottom of the US heart, and the more tense the situation is, the more it can reap the benefits.

America First is also rooted in the US’s pursuit of economic hegemony. For a long time, the US has often unilaterally and arbitrarily adjusted its macroeconomic policies. Its excessive dollar hegemony, that has further inflated and exacerbated the debt burden of the emerging markets and the developing countries, dealt a heavy blow to the economies and adversely affected the economic recovery and growth.

In the past few years, with dollar appreciation and financial tightening, a quarter of emerging markets have been stranded in or close to debt distress, and more than 60 percent of the low-income countries have been trapped in the debt crises. Regional countries such as Pakistan have been fleeced by the “magic power” of the US dollar. The US has, more than before, resorted to sanctions, long-arm jurisdictions and protectionist practices, building “small yards and high walls”, and artificially disrupting the global manufacturing and supply chains, leading to exorbitant rise of production costs.

Since coming to power in 2021, the Biden administration has not only retained the high tariff policies initiated by the first Trump term, but also strengthened “decoupling” and “derisking” against China under various disguises. Resultantly, twelve Asian countries including Pakistan have suffered collateral damages on their technology and innovation capacity.

In disregard of a dynamic and inclusive economic cooperation and development in the Asia-Pacific region, the US has introduced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) which set a number of excessively high thresholds in the areas of digital economy, labour standard and clean energy, attempting to coerce the regional countries to go the unaffordable US way, and reshape the regional economic order. It is counterproductive to the overall interests of the region.

There is no denying that the Asia-Pacific region has enjoyed sustained stability and rapid economic growth over the past decades, and the US’s claim of committing to the prosperity of the region while pursuing America First and serving its myopic interests at all times, does not resonate well with the regional countries.

China is committed to the Belt and Road Initiative and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and firmly holding the moral high ground, which is in a stark contrast to the America First approach. In meeting the trend of the time, regional countries should stick to the common security and the Asian way focusing on shared contribution and mutual benefits.

Inclusiveness should prevail in the process. China regards Asia as a common home and holds peace and stability close to its heart, and has always been a builder, contributor and defender of peace, development and prosperity in the region and the world. Confronted with unilateralism and protectionism, China has continued to open up, realized mutual visa exemptions with 25 countries, implemented unilateral transit visa exemptions for 38 countries, and granted zero-tariff treatment to 100% tariff lines of the Least Developed Countries having diplomatic relations with it. Embarking on the Chinese modernization, China will bring its vast market access to and tremendous opportunities for the region, injecting fresh momentum into the regional stability, growth and prosperity.

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