US Politics
Trump’s trade policy is making China great again — at the US’ expense, new global analysis finds
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President Donald Trump’s trade tariff policy has seen America’s favorability plummet while China’s has risen, a new global analysis has found.
Since Trump entered office in January, “the overwhelming majority of countries simultaneously exhibit worsening views of the United States and improving views of China,” according to the analysis by technology research firm Morning Consult, and first reported by Axios.
America’s drop in favorability among the 41 countries surveyed comes as fewer visitors are traveling to the U.S. in part because of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
The analysis as of the end of May found China had an 8.8 net favorability rating versus –1.5 for the USA. By comparison, in January 2024 the U.S. was above 20 while China was in the negative.
“This is a first since our tracking began, and includes many of America’s most important economic and military partners, in a clear blow to U.S. soft power,” Morning Consult’s report said.
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America’s favorability fell to a new low on Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day,” which the president’s global tariffs caused the markets to hit historic lows before he ordered a 90-day pause one week later.
“America’s global standing fell to a tracking low just after Washington’s reciprocal tariff announcements on April 2, 2025, which tipped net favorability of the United States into negative territory for the first time since January 2022,” according to the report.
The data is based on surveys from 41 countries, including Canada, Mexico, the U.K., France and Russia.
At the end of April, only 13 countries held more favorable views of the U.S. than China, compared to 29 countries surveyed at the start of the year.
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A “silver lining,” according to the report, is that “America’s global standing has recently begun to rebound” since Trump put a pause on the reciprocal tariffs. America’s rating also ticked up slightly after Trump reduced tariffs on China last month from 145 percent to 30 percent.
The trade war between the two countries has resumed again after Trump accused China of violating the terms of the agreement in a post on Truth Social.
“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,” Trump said Friday. “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
China hit back Monday and also accused the U.S. of doing the same after the Trump administration revealed plans to revoke the visas of Chinese students and attempts to curb China’s access to the most advanced computer chips.
“These practices seriously violate the consensus” of what was agreed in talks in Geneva two weeks ago, the Commerce Ministry said.
