Technically, America– whether led by Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump– may be trying to remain the country’s pre-eminent corporate power.
The realist perspective holds that the global system of states compels specific states to seek as much power as possible in foreign relations theory.  , This is the only means to effectively make themselves more stable.
From these, there is a cut between defensive and offensive realists.
Protective realists think that as a condition improves its standing over potential rival states, it stops at the accelerator and concentrates more on upholding the status quo than leading.
According to insulting realists, a state can never have too much security, and states will not give up trying to bolster their relative power over other nations, who could also be adversaries.  , Any condition that has the capability may try to dominate its relatives.
One of the most popular American proponents of authenticity, University of Chicago doctor John Mearsheimer, is in the unpleasant station.  , His outlook , predicts:” The United States is going to come to great lengths to make certain that China does not occupy Asia”.
Wonderful measures include declaring war on Taiwan. Americans “would fight and die to support Taiwan”, he , believes.
He dissects questions about whether US citizens would be in favor of a war by stating that the US government had “manipulate the discourse on what is happening in ways that manifest China as a corporeal threat.”
Mearsheimer , gives , two causes why Washington had try so hard to have PRC expansionism.
Second, the United States has worldwide economic passions to defend. A possible adversary, such as China, do threaten American prosperity if it gained control of a significant region with its wealth, commercial potential, and economic power.  ,” It is evident from the traditional record”, he , writes, that” the US does not tolerate friend competition”.
Second, Mearsheimer argues that a strong country that establishes domination over its region is “free to roam” . , Not threatened by any of its own neighbors, it will make aggressive probes into some other major power’s neighborhood.  , So if the US wasn’t blocking Beijing’s power over areas of China’s close overseas such as Taiwan, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, China may be challenging US protection in the Northern Hemisphere.
Mearsheimer’s unpleasant realism, nonetheless, has a built-in weakness. He acknowledges that governments, including those of the US, do not always work as his theory suggests, despite the reasoning that seems to suggest that America should hang onto proper hegemony at all costs and ensure China does no achieve hegemony over Asia.
For example, he , says,  , it was “foolish” and a” proper blunder” for the US to energy China’s rapid economic growth and technical progress starting in the 1980s in the mistaken belief , that this would preclude potential security conflicts with China– an opinion that many other analysts then share.
Mearsheimer claims that his theory accurately predicts how major powers will act in response to external circumstances, but that some nations, including the most important nation on earth, reject to act in accordance with his theory.
Despite the pressures of the international system, it seems as though this makes room for the possibility that a government in the US that is no longer interested in preventing Chinese hegemony in East Asia might emerge.
This may in fact be happening.  ,
Trump’s strategy appears to involve dividing the world into clearly defined empires, rather than an activist America that favors liberal rules and institutions and seeks to shape regions around the world to stop the rise of powerful adversaries. His continued rant about annexing Canada and Greenland seems more like a joke to his domestic political rivals.
Trump may have accepted the Russian and Chinese empires, according to some sources.  , His government has signaled acceptance of Russia , keeping , its recent territorial gains in Ukraine.
Recent statements by Trump’s controversial Defense Secretary , Pete Hegseth , and Vice President , J. D. Vance , have deepened European , fears , that Trump II intends to scuttle US security commitments to Western Europe.
Trump has frequently said the US alliances with Japan and South Korea are worthwhile only if America , makes a profit , from them. He has said little about the strategic significance of these alliances, which suggests he is not in favor of strategically containing China, even though some of his senior officials are.
Trump reportedly , wants , to withdraw US troops from South Korea.  , He has also , said , he has” no problem” with North Korea testing short-range missiles that cannot reach the US, even though such missiles threaten South Korea. If Trump were to remove America from Pyongyang’s target list, it seems as though he would be willing to let go of South Korea’s defense.
As for the possibility of US intervention in a Taiwan Strait war, Trump has said Taiwan is , indefensible and is , unimportant , compared with China – and that he resents Taiwan for allegedly” stealing” the semiconductor manufacturing business from the US.
Trump sees China as a threat as an economic threat, which he would address primarily through economic policy rather than military strategy.
He has always preferred tariffs as a tool. Trump argues that tariffs can help to balance the US trade deficit and encourage manufacturing to relocate there.  , In late 2024 Trump , said , in an interview with the , Wall Street Journal , that he would respond to a PRC attack on Taiwan by imposing high tariffs on China, not by sending US forces to help.
Contrary to Mearsheimer’s expectation, Trump seems not to fear that a Chinese hegemony over Asia would seriously jeopardize US prosperity.
Despite China’s impressive economic development, accumulation of wealth and military buildup, America is still the world’s leading economic, military and innovation power.  , Washington also has a network of strong allies, unlike China.
The US has not abandoned its efforts to support global arrangements made up of liberal principles that serve US interests, or to oppose Chinese expansionism in East Asia.  , Rather, the Trump II administration may be choosing to let , Pax Americana , die in a case of domestic politics triumphing over international imperatives that are clearly not irresistible.
Denny Roy is a senior fellow at the East-West Center, Honolulu.