Power players: Trump’s team and views on China and global economies

Come next Monday, Donald Trump’s stacked lineup of Republicans will be marching into the White House, ushering in his second term as US President. Many members of his administration promise to uphold quite “ambitious” policies.

Which ones are at the top of the pile? You guessed it; it’s about China.

Most of the president-elect’s nominated cabinet members will appear before the Senate today. And with a cabinet packed with like-minded allies, Trump’s team is all about one thing and one thing only: American economic dominance. Even if it comes at the expense of U.S.-China relations, the president-elect simply doesn’t care, or at least it doesn’t look like he does.

A unified front: Trump’s inner circle on China

Donald Trump’s first-round pick starts with Marco Rubio, or as the businessman once called him, Little Rubio. He is nominated for Secretary of State and is known for his hawkish views on China, Venezuela, and Cuba (He’s Latino).

“We cannot allow China to dictate global trade norms while undermining our own economic sovereignty.” Those were Rubio’s words on China. He is set to appear before the Senate for questioning today, and it is safe to say he fits in perfectly with Trump’s tariff-heavy agenda. 

Then there’s Pete Hegseth, the incoming Secretary of Defense, who argues that “China’s unchecked rise is the greatest geopolitical threat of the 21st century.” He will be right at the very center of countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Pam Bondi, set to lead the Department of Justice, is a long-time ally of the incoming POTUS. Just to emphasize how close she is with Trump, the former Florida Attorney General was part of the former President’s first impeachment trial in 2020.

Bondi sees China as a “threat to the US economy”  and has previously supported measures to “hold Chinese companies accountable for violating international trade laws.” She also accused the Chinese government of “covering up COVID-19.” That’s a tone Trump certainly likes.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is also against China. “American industries cannot compete with a rigged game,” Lutnick recently said as he defended Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports as necessary to protect domestic manufacturing.

Economic architects: The minds behind the policies

The true economic backbone of Trump’s China strategy lies in the hands of two men: White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and US Trade Rep Jamieson Greer. 

As expected, Hassett supports imposing tariffs on the Asian country. He’s been vocal in his belief that “tariffs are a tool, not a punishment, to recalibrate trade imbalances.”

On the other hand, Jamieson Greer is poised to enforce existing trade agreements and negotiate new ones with China under stricter terms. Greer staunchly advocates ensuring “China plays by the rules or pays the price.”

Amidst everyone on Trump’s team, it is Tesla CEO Elon Musk who stands to lose the most if tariffs are imposed on China. Musk, for his company, would very much like to maintain strong relations with the country to sustain revenue streams.

“Tesla cannot exist without China,” said Cornel Ban, an associate professor at the Copenhagen Business School in China. “There won’t be a big conflict between the U.S. and China so long as Musk is in the White House.”

While he’s been tapped for a role in streamlining government operations alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk has repeatedly criticized tariffs on Chinese Electrical automobiles. 

“Tesla competes quite well in the market in China with no tariffs and no deferential support. I’m in favour of no tariffs,” he told the BBC back in May 2024.

Trump’s picks for defense and diplomacy positions will also seek to counter China’s growing influence. Keith Kellogg, a military veteran and now Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, views China as a looming adversary in global geopolitics. “China’s ambitions extend far beyond the South China Sea; they’re aiming to reshape the global order,” Kellogg stated in a recent interview.

Homeland Security nominee Kristi Noem, a controversial figure with a number of scandals up her sleeve, has vowed to tighten borders and restrict technology transfers to the Asian region. “We need to protect our national interests at every level,” she reckoned.

Regarding China, it is high stakes for Trump

The Trump administration is betting that tariffs, stricter trade agreements, and military readiness can curb Beijing’s influence. And many of its biggest players, who had roles in mending US-China relations during Biden’s reign, are in support of removing any policies that will give the latter the upper hand.

Nominated Secretary of State Rubio believes China “lied, cheated, hacked and stole” their way to global superpower status at the expense of the US. And even without reading much into that, it’s clear that almost everyone in Trump’s camp is prepared to fight back.

As Trump’s power players prepare to shape U.S. policy, the world will watch closely to see how these strategies unfold. China’s current economic state doesn’t look great, and economists believe one of the reasons is that Trump is on his way back to the oval office.

Will the Republican government succeed in “Making America Great Again?” We’ll have to wait and see.