By P J James
Introduction
Impermanence or dynamic nature of every phenomenon is a core principle in philosophy and science. The same law, that every social phenomenon is constantly changing and transforming itself, is applicable to history and political-economic systems also. For instance, several empires, including the Roman empire that spanned over a millennium, have risen and fallen or replaced by contending powers. Two centuries of capitalist-imperialist system is also no exception to this historical trajectory. The flourishing industrial capitalism of more than a century from mid-18th century to the last quarter of the 19th century took place mainly under the leadership of Britain which, on the one hand, performed the role of ‘workshop of the world’ and on the other, remained as world’s leading colonial power with an ‘empire upon which the sun never set’. However, towards the last quarter of the 19th century and by the turn of the 20th century, industrial or competitive capitalism gave way to monopoly finance capitalism or imperialism, when USA emerged as the leading capitalist-imperialist power, though UK continued as colonial leader. And the US had to wait till the Second World War for the eventual transition from “Pax Britannica” to “Pax Americana”.
Thus, the US took over the position of postwar imperialist hegemon and leader of the Anglo-Saxon camp when Second World War came to a close. Of course, in this transformation as supreme global arbiter, the US has undergone many strategic policy shifts with ascending and descending phases during the colonial period and in the postwar neocolonial-neoliberal phase. However, with the beginning of the 21st century, especially after the world economic crisis or “global meltdown” of 2007-08, its stature as world’s leading manufacturer and biggest trader has been lost to China. Following the sharp decline in US gold reserve which was 75 percent of world total in 1945 to less than 20 percent as of now, that resulted in a loss of trust in dollar’s continuity as world currency, has unleashed a “de-dollarisation” trend too, in which China has its overt and covert role. And of late, as a manifestation of the inability to carry out the super-power responsibilities incumbent on it including the maintenance of around 750-800 military bases across 80 countries of the world, US imperialism has been backtracking from its international commitments, especially to UN-affiliated institutions, which, to an extent, were political tools propped up by US itself that enabled it to carry on the tasks as postwar neocolonial arbiter.
However, this irreversible and multidimensional declining trend of US imperialist hegemony is now accelerated further by the second coming of Donald Trump as 47th US president. Trump’s policies, codified as “Trumpism” (or “Trumponomics”), are characterised by extreme ‘economic nationalism’, the main pillars of which are assertion of US hegemony and boosting of the economy through highly ‘protectionist’ and ‘isolationist’ trade policies coupled with corporate tax-cuts, business deregulation and drastic reduction in social welfare spending. Being symbolised or encapsulated in the motto MAGA (Make America Great Again) and “America First”, Trumpism has already sent shock-waves among traditional US allies, especially among Anglo-Saxon imperialist circles. Meanwhile the biggest-ever bullying tariffs imposed on countries by Trump in tune with his isolationist and protectionist perspective are now boomeranged as a looming threat towards “stagflation” – a situation of economic stagnation coupled with high inflation – on US itself. However, unable to face retaliation from China coupled with pressure from US allies, Trump has forced to keep his unilateral tariff move in abeyance, engaging in a series of trade talks with countries. Meanwhile, domestic opposition to Trump’s policies are surging on an unprecedented scale. According to reports, compared to the 2.4 percent growth in 2024, US GDP is going to be plummeted to its half, i.e., 1.2 percent in 2025. Of course, while these developments and their outcomes call for an objective evaluation, it would be in order here to briefly situate the important policy shifts that marked both the ascending and descending phases US imperialism over a century. This will also enable to situate Trumpism from a concrete historical perspective.
Emergence of US as Supeme Neocolonial Arbiter under Keynesianism
As already noted, though Britain continued as the colonial leader, US had become the leading imperialist power by the turn of 20th century itself. By the time of First World War, US became world’s principal creditor, and along with pound sterling, countries had begun to accept dollar also as a major reserve currency. Still, it needed the Second World War for setting the stage for dollar to be recognised as the international currency totally replacing pound. In the meanwhile, the Great Depression of 1929-34 fuelled by speculation and “Wall Street Crash” led to a collapse of the US economy together with the entire imperialist world. It shattered the very foundations of imperialism by halting the process of capital accumulation itself. As its manifestation, the index of industrial production almost halved in US (and in other imperialist countries too) where unemployment rate rose from 3.2 percent in 1929 to 24.9 percent in 1933. However, Soviet Union, which was outside the orbit of imperialist capital flows at that time, experienced a doubling of its GDP during this period. At the political level, the Great Depression led to the growth of ‘economic nationalism’ and national chauvinism that facilitated fascism in Italy and Germany and in other European countries.
However, such an outcome was avoided in US, and later in other imperialist countries through the adoption of “Keynesianism” that called for an alteration in imperialist policy by rejecting the orthodoxy associated with “laissez-faire” or free market policies which relied on the “invisible hand” of market forces in maintaining adequate levels of employment, production and purchasing power of the people. Contrary to this view, to avoid social upheavals such as fascism on the one hand, and Soviet-type revolution on the other, Keynes suggested appropriate ‘state programming’ of the economy through large-scale state-led investment in heavy industry and arms production together with a ‘euthanasia’ for speculative capital that triggered the Great Depression. In fact, Keynesian redefinition of the role of the state got wide acceptance in imperialist circles at that specific historical context when the ‘threat of Communism’ was looming large over Europe and America. Thus, US as the leading imperialist power, started applying the ‘Keynesian medicine’ in the form of ‘New Deal’ in two stages, during 1933-35 and 1935-39. In general, Keynesianism meant the shift from laissez-faire to state intervention as a policy of finance capital, leading to the emergence of ‘welfare state” with enlarged economic and social functions of the state including progressive taxation and increased public expenditures.
When Second World War began, the ‘New Deal’ merged into the war economy such that during the five years from 1939 to 1945, it was mainly through war-oriented production under the Military-Industrial Complex that the GDP of US rose by around 75 percent, and unemployment becoming practically nil. To be precise, the relative political-economic and military strength of US substantially grew during the War, and when Second World War came to an end in 1945, US accounted for almost half of the combined GDP of capitalist-imperialist world, along with around three-quarters of world gold reserve under its custody. Following US-initiated ‘decolonisation’, Britain was relegated to the background and US formally took over as leader of the postwar imperialist camp. A series of political, economic and military arrangements, such as UN and its Security Council, IMF and World Bank with US alone having veto power in them, NATO, SEATO, CENTO, etc., also came into being. Above all, backed by US political-economic and military power, replacing the pound sterling, dollar became the global currency to be used as international medium of exchange, store of value, and means for deferred payments.
The upshot of the argument is that while global Keynesianism and prime role of state as initiator of development including state-led welfare provision, not only created the material basis for overcoming the Great Depression by putting US as the imperialist hegemon, but the same became an ideological weapon for US-led imperialism in the global anti-Communist offensive. And, the quarter century following Second World War came to be characterised as “golden age of capitalism”, as during this period that ended by early 1970s, output expanded by around 5 percent per annum in all major imperialist countries taken together, which was unprecedented in capitalist-imperialist history. Unemployment rate also remained very low due to the strengthening of ‘Welfare State’. This boom provided by ‘Keynesian welfare capitalism’ at a global level was firmly rooted in the political-economic and military hegemony of US imperialism, especially in the absence of competition from rival imperialist powers. Simultaneously, it also acted as imperialism’s ideological-political weapon against the continuing Communist threat and national liberation movements till the 1970s.
Reaganomics and US-led Neoliberalism followed by 21st Century Neofascism
In fact, Keynesianism emerged in the 1930s for treating economic stagnation or depression on the one hand, and as ideological weapon against Communism, on the other. However, by the beginning of 1970s, imperialism began facing persistent “stagflation” – combination of stagnation and inflation – that defied the central logic of Keynesianism. More serious was the challenge faced by dollar that had an unparalleled hegemonic position in the ‘golden age’, which the pound-sterling could never attain even in the heydays of British imperialism. However, coupled with stagflation, dollar holdings outside US went on increasing resulting in an absolute decline in mandatory US gold holdings as per Bretton Woods agreement. US gold stock that was around 70 percent of imperialist world’s total in 1945, dropped to 21 percent in 1972, while that of European Common Market countries rose to 41 percent of world’s total in the same year. The consequent “crisis of confidence” in the Bretton Woods system based on dollar-gold standard compelled Nixon, through an official proclamation on 15 August 1971, to withdraw the convertibility of dollars into gold including a series of stringent measures against people such as wage controls coupled with many protectionist measures against the rest of the world.
All these developments led to the collapse of the ‘welfare state’ and its policy of international Keynesianism. The ideological-political setbacks of the Left including its failure to evaluate the international situation and appropriately intervene, also enabled US-led imperialism to use the new crisis as an opportunity for abandoning Keynesianism and embrace neoliberalism. Starting with Thatcherism in Britain and Reaganomics in USA, neoliberalism initiated a neoconservative redefinition of political economy that replaced state-led development with global market-oriented policies comprising financial deregulation, drastic reduction in corporate taxes, curtailing hard-earned rights of the workers, trade liberalisation and privatisation of public enterprises. It emphasised a downsizing and rollback of the state, confining its role as a ‘facilitator’ of corporate accumulation. Since raising the profit rate from stagnating productive sphere became difficult, neoliberalism initiated new avenues of financial speculation. Through globalisation, since 1980s, neoliberalism abolished all restrictions on global financial mobility leading to the building up of a financial superstructure sitting on the top of world economy, comprising both imperialist and neocolonial countries. Unless Keynesianism in which financial expansion had moved more or less in tandem with production and employment, under neoliberal globalisation, the financial sphere, being cut off from production, geared itself for self-expansion through unhindered speculation. Meanwhile, the collapse of Soviet regime along with that of Eastern Europe by the turn of 1990s provided the US to take on the leadership of a ‘unipolar’ world for a brief interregnum, aggressively implementing neoliberalism at a global level. However, the laws of motion of neoliberal imperialism again altered the situation by the first decade of the 21st century.
One of the direct outcomes of the unabated speculation and growth of the ‘bubble economy’ entirely disconnected from the process of production under neoliberalism, of which US is a typical example, was the ‘global meltdown’ and financial crash of 2008 whose epicentre also was US. In spite of the pumping of around 4 trillion dollars, euphemistically called “quantitative easing” in to the coffers of US speculators and similar policies in European Union, and in China with its own specificities, instead of boosting the productive economy, it boosted financial speculation further. Intensification of neoliberal policies sharpened the social contradictions, and the brunt of this burden has fallen on the shoulders of workers, immigrants, refuges and all oppressed, and their struggles against the ruling system also began surging across the world. As a response to this, unholy nexus between the reactionary corporate-financial oligarchs and their political leadership has given rise to far-right neofascism (fascism under neoliberalism) at a global level whose material basis has been internationalisation of corporate capital.
Meanwhile, following capitalist restoration since the 1980s and traversing the path of ‘bureaucratic state monopoly capitalism’, China had emerged as an imperialist power by the turn of the 21st century. Its entry into WTO in 2001 was a milestone in its full-fledged integration with global market and international finance capital. With its inexhaustible source of the cheapest labour, China also transformed itself as the most profitable destination of investment and production for both local companies and MNCs from western imperialist powers. Within a span of two decades, Chinese bureaucratic-state monopoly capitalism became the biggest gainer of neoliberal globalisation. And, during the period after 2008 world crisis, while US and EU faced economic setbacks, China has transformed itself as world’s biggest manufacturer and commodity exporter. Through one trillion-dollar worth of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched in 2013, world’s largest capital export strategy in imperialist history, China has already laid down the material basis for its capturing ‘neocolonial spheres of influence’ across Eurasia, Africa and even Latin America, effectively challenging US and EU imperialists in the process. And, as already noted, even in the case of 21st century technological revolution including that of AI, China is much ahead than that US- led imperialist bloc, as proved by the threatening impact on Silicon Valley by cost-effective and potentially more efficient DeepSeek from China.
Trump’s Undermining of both US Hegemony and Anglo-Saxon Global Dominance
The emerging trends in US and at a global level under neofascist Trump’s second term should be seen in the broad historical background as elucidated above. Suffice it to confine this discussion to a few of the core political, economic and military trends in this regard.
Loss of Domestic Coherence that Acted as Basis of US Hegemony
Trump’s second coming in January 2025 backed by his unholy nexus with 13 leading US tech giants and financial oligarchs led by world’s richest billionaire Musk, is in disarray now. Musk, who was in charge of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) specifically created for downsizing the government and rolling back it from welfare and social expenditures, has already resigned due to irresolvable differences with Trump’s short-sighted and reckless policies. Trump’s so-called neoliberal “big beautiful bill” that, among other things, extended further tax-cuts initially suffered a devastating defeat in the House Budget Committee because of opposition from Republicans who joined with Democrats to vote it down. Even the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has predicted an impending catastrophic stagflation and economic doomsday ahead for US consequent on Trump’s isolationist policies. As a typical Islamophobic neofascist, Trump’s tirade against immigrants and foreigners have crossed all limits. Domestically, in the process of ruthlessly suppressing opposition to his policies, Trump is undermining judiciary and rule of law, autonomy of universities, media freedom and long-established rules and procedures of US administration.
Ever since American Civil War, federalism has provided the internal coherence and strength for US. While preventing concentration of power with the central regime, it divided power between the Central and State governments, ensuring both unity and` diversity, which no US president has challenged so far. For instance, Trump is continuing the dismantling of US federalism by sidelining California governor, and use of military to quash people’s protests in Los Angeles against his immigration policies, and in the process, even politicising the military. He has even threated to invoke the rarely used 1807 Insurrection Act that grants executive powers to president to deploy military to deal with domestic issues. Vehemently opposing such fascist moves including Trump’s most inhuman deportation of immigrants to Afro-Asian-Latin American countries, against his patronage of Zionist genocide of Palestinians including his criminal and illegal attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, millions of people are rising up in Washington and all major states across US, challenging Trump’s presidency.
More specifically, the anti-Trump “No King” protests have taken place in 2000 cities in US attended by millions of people including university students, scholars, intellectuals and wide spectrum of democratic sections, quite unprecedented in US history. All well-meaning people are coming forward against the patriarchal, Evangelist Trump’s dehumanizing language towards differently-abled people like LGBT including even those with disabilities like autism, against racial minorities, and undocumented people. And, the social-democratic leader Bernie Sanders and Democrats including even disenchanted Republican law-makers have raised bipartisan challenges to Trump’s pro-Zionist military involvement in Iran. All these developments and the widespread opposition against Trumpism have already imparted irreparable damage to the US image as “paradise of democracy” that formed the solid domestic basis for US projection as world hegemon. In other words, the growing people’s resistance against Trumpism which has assumed the character of an anti-Trump movement across US is now speeding up the erosion of the domestic base essential for its global hegemony.
Undermining of NATO and Trump’s Withdrawal from Multilateral Agreements
Secondly, the decline and downfall of US hegemony is integrally linked up with the shaking of the postwar strategic US-EU alliance. The European powers who were weakened by the Second World War had also accepted the 1941 Atlantic Charter or the Anglo-American blueprint prepared jointly by the eclipsing and rising global hegemons that envisaged the essential political, economic and military arrangements for the postwar world. Accordingly, the UN system including all its affiliated and specialised institutions, the Bretton Woods Monetary system (IMF and World Bank with US veto power in them) and the dollar as world currency, and a whole set of military arrangements such as NATO, SEATO, CENTO, etc. and world-wide US military bases were the essential tools at the disposal of postwar neocolonial order led by US. And through Marshall Plan, or European Recovery Program, US took the initiative for reconstructing war-torn Europe. The NATO or Transatlantic Military Alliance led by US and founded in 1949 that included Canada and 10 EU members (which expanded overtime to include 32 members) began as the largest US-led neocolonial military organisation that strengthened the Anglo-Saxon global dominance. To be precise, it has been this Western imperialist or Anglo-Saxon military bloc that acted as the foundation for US hegemony on the one hand, and provided effective ideological-political weapon against Soviet bloc on the other.
However, the short-sighted, reckless and isolationist MAGA approach of Trump has already subverted the very basis of this US-EU alliance so assiduously built up over decades as the central pillar of postwar US hegemony. In continuation of his repeated and senseless statement on Canada, calling it the “51st state”, threatening of taking over of Greenland from Denmark, and Panama Canal from Panama and even Gaza from Palestinians, coercing of Ukraine for arriving at a deal for its rare minerals, softening of the US approach to Russia, etc., have alienated all erstwhile US allies. However, most important is Trumpism’s weakening of US-EU alliance including NATO, though the NATO-led Ukraine war had imparted a European cohesion till Trump’s coming to power in January 2025. Now, most of the European powers, and the Eurosceptic and xenophobic far-right in particular, no longer consider US as a reliable ally, and for them, the postwar American shield for Europe or the security guaranteed by US through NATO in return for EU’s recognition of US as world leader, has become meaningless. Moreover, in the context of Trump’s unilateral tariffs, the EU members have begun seeking trading partners from ASEAN, Mercosur and including even building up of bilateral trade relations with China.
One of Trump’s threats was to withdraw from NATO and questioning of the merits of NATO’s Article 5 – which says that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them. Article 5 was inserted to protect Europe from Soviet Union during Cold War. However, according to Trumpism, in the post-Cold War world situation, the huge NATO expenditures of US is an obstacle for the road towards MAGA. As such, in addition to repeatedly criticising EU members for not meeting their defence quota of 2 percent of GDP, Trump has demanded an increase in their defence spending to 5 percent of GDP, which the EU members of NATO in its recent meeting have agreed in principle, even as left-leaning Spain revolted against it. Trump’s attempt to make deals directly with Putin bypassing EU members of NATO has sent shock waves across leading European powers such as France, Germany, Italy, etc., who were safely enjoying the military protection of US till now in the absence of a European military. This has prompted European Commission to move towards greater defence integration independent of NATO with the scope of potential European military force. Its immediate outcome is European Commission’s “ReArm Europe” plan having an outlay of over 800 billion euros (900 billion dollars) within four years. Even discussion on an independent European nuclear defence umbrella is also in full swing. The ultimate outcome is a weakening of the strategic US-EU cohesion in the days ahead.
In fact, together with the undermining of US-EU alliance, Trump had initiated US withdrawal from several international agreements and treaties during his first term itself. Examples are the Tans-Pacific Partnership, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, 1951 Refugee Convention, UNESCO, UNHRC, and even WHO, though Trump’s withdrawals from the last three were later rescinded by Biden. However, there are reports that Trumpism may repeat and intensify this process based on its “America First” policy that focuses on bilateral deals and disregards multilateral agreements. Of course, the most vicious form of this bilateral deal today is the long-standing US-Zionist alliance by which the latter acts as former’s postwar ‘military outpost’ in Middle East, regarding which there is unshakeable unanimity among Republicans and Democrats. However, Iran’s counter-attack on US military bases in Qatar and Iraq following US illegal bombing of Iranian nuclear sites and Trump’s unilateral announcement of cease-fire, and seeking the help of China to pacify Iran, amply prove the demise or fragmentation of postwar unipolar US dominance in the Middle East. The inhuman and undignified deportation of immigrants, travel-ban restricting entry into US from 12 countries, imposition of visa restrictions to 7 countries, and so on, are other manifestations of ‘splendid isolation’ inherent in Trumpism.
Trump’s Bullying Tariffs and Surrender before China
The series of highly protective Trumpian tariffs on all countries exporting goods to US that raised average effective US tariff rate from 2.5% to around 27% during January-April 2025 is quite unprecedented in over a century of US imperialism. Immediate response to Trump’s tariff war against other countries was a plunge of the stock markets in US, EU and Asia. Initial estimates had put Trump tariffs’ impact at around $1.4 trillion worth of US imports by April 2025. However, following strong domestic opposition and resentment from EU, coupled with the challenge from Chinese retaliatory tariffs, Trump was forced to partially rollback his unilateral tariffs. As such, the estimated average tariff rate is reduced to around 15% in June 2025. In the unprecedented tariff war, Trump has invoked extra-ordinary powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose universal tariffs affecting all imports into US. The consequent countermeasures resorted by EU leading to loss of European market for even Tesla like US companies have backfired on US itself. It is reported that Trumpian policies including tariff wars will decrease US GDP growth rate to 1.2 percent in 2025 from 2.4 percent in 2024. The stock market crash, business uncertainty, chaotic environment in market and, above all, the threat of inflation, have prompted the crony capitalists including Musk who were in unholy nexus with Trump, to part company with him. Meanwhile, even federal courts have ruled Trump’s use of IEEPA for tariff war as unconstitutional, though appeal on the case is scheduled for 31 July 2025.
However, Chinese retaliation through both tariff and non-tariff barriers following Trump’s imposition of 145% tariff on China was a severe blow to Trump. During his first term itself, the trade war initiated against China was a total failure. After his second coming in 2025 with the motto MAGA, Trump reiterated his accusation against China for its intellectual property thefts, long-standing unfair trade practices including dumping of US market with cheap Chinese products resulting in huge trade deficit for US, forced transfer of American technology, etc. But China’s tit-for-tat imposition of 125% tariff on US was quite unexpected for Trump with the economistic mindset of a real-estate developer rather than that of a seasoned politician. At the same time, China could ease the impact of reduced exports to US by easily diverting its exports to South and Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. This would have serious disruption on US economy leading to a loss of $1.6 trillion in GDP. However, sensing the danger, Trump managed to strike a deal with China. Accordingly, US will reduce tariffs on Chinese products to 30% and China will cut the tariffs to 10% for three months. Since China’s productivity is high and exports are very competitive, it is easy for China to absorb the 30% tariff without damage. However, contrary to Trump’s earlier demands, China has not opened its markets to US tech giants, or agreed to buy more planes and pharmaceuticals from US. To be precise, the trade war against China initiated by Trump exposed one thing: i.e., the US needs China more than China needs the US.
De-dollarisation Gaining Momentum under Trumpism
Though de-dollarisation – the shift away from dollar – has been an increasing trend consequent on the abandonment of dollar-gold convertibility since the stagflation of 1970s, Trumpism is now acting as a catalyst for it. Dollar as world currency, reinforced by US Treasury and Bretton Woods Twin, has been one of the foundations of US hegemony. Today, the trend towards de-dollarisation is intertwined with the declining phase of US imperialism. In essence, since the unshackling of gold standard, in tandem with relative decline of US economy, the trust in dollar has been eroding and today dollar continues as global currency only in the absence of an alternative arrangement. Meanwhile, concerted efforts on the part of China towards regional and bilateral agreements for alternative payment mechanisms are strengthening. As a result, the share of dollar in global central bank reserves has been steadily falling, now reaching around 57% compared to 85% in mid-1970s. And, in view of the recession haunting US, the reserve currency status of dollar is likely to decline at a faster rate, enabling China to internationalise its own Yuan in its digital version as Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
It is in this overall context that Trump’s protectionist tariffs coupled with his isolationist political-economic policies further undermine dollar’s position in international monetary system. Though total replacement of dollar with another alternative currency is not imminent, China’s initiative in the realm of digital currency for cross border payments using CBDC with members of RCEP, bilateral payment mechanism with Saudi, UAE, and Iran, coupled with its move in BRICS for internal payment arrangements among members or even the creation of an alternative currency, etc., are impending threats to dollar. However, Trump’s isolationist policies breaking the Anglo-Saxon alliance have created favourable conditions in Europe also to end the reliance on dollar and seek an alternative international payments mechanism. Further, as global public opinion is growing against isolationist and protectionist policies of unpredictable Trump including his threat to impose 100% tariffs on countries that opt to trade using alternative currencies, coupled with reports of stagnation in US will further erode global investors’ faith in dollar. In the ultimate analysis, in a multipolar world order in which US will be one among the leading players, a post-dollar multipolar currency system is a viable alternative.
Conclusion
US imperialism, which has been the postwar world hegemon, is now on its descending phase like an old lion without manes. In fact, Trumpism and its disruptive and reckless policies are catalyst for this inevitable decline. For instance, US is still world’s largest military machine having one of the largest stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction with world-wide military bases and accounting for over 40% of world military spending (China being second), which itself is unsustainable given the crumbling economic foundations of US. From a political-economy perspective, US is much weaker than China. While US has higher nominal GDP, based on Purchasing Power Parity, US GDP is only 75% of China. Today, 60% of the countries of the world is China’s trading partners; US has only 30%. US industrial production or manufacturing today is only half that of China. China is the largest trading partner of Latin America which was once called the ‘backyard’ of US, while China’s trade with the entire Africa is three times that of US. Coming to the crucial issue of export of capital, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that envisages an investment of $1 trillion in infrastructures such as, roads, ports, airports, etc. till 2049, and spanning Asia, Africa, Europe and even Latin America, is the largest capital export program in imperialist history. In the process, many countries have already become China’s neocolonial dependencies.
Even as many US-led global agreements and treaties have ceased to exist or are in disarray, since its entry into WTO by the turn of the 21st century, and in tandem with its transformation as a leading imperialist power capable to challenge US on many fronts, China has taken the initiative for establishing and/or leading many political-economic agreements such as SCO, BRICS, RCEP, AIIB, etc., along with innumerable bilateral arrangements. As already noted, in the sphere of “frontier technologies” such as AI, Digitisation, Biotechnology, etc., imperialist China is much ahead than that of US or Anglo-Saxon powers. And, as proved by its Afghan debacle (in which the role of China was less-discussed) and the latest Iranian strike at its military bases in Qatar and Iraq, following the criminal bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, US hegemony is often challenged due to the shifting of global geopolitics from West to the East. Compared to the earlier phases of crisis, when temporary recoveries were for possible for US through Keynesianism and Reaganomics, today Trumpism has imparted an irreversible dimension to US decline.
As mentioned at the outset of this note, since every phenomenon is constantly changing, the unfolding global situation is not going to be a repetition of the two centuries of Anglo-Saxon imperialist trajectory. Obviously, during the preceding quarter century of neoliberal globalisation, and under internationalisation of corporate capital, though China has transformed into a major imperialist power capable to challenge the US, it’s modus operandi is entirely different from that of Western imperialist bloc. As an inexhaustible source of cheap labour for super-exploitation, while integrating itself with global corporate capital, China’s neocolonial domination and building up ‘spheres of influence’ are not a text copy of the US-led Anglo-Saxon model. At the same time, the inherent crisis of world imperialism as manifested in geo-political tensions, economic, cultural and ecological crises that threaten the very sustenance of humankind are applicable to China also. Unless the working and oppressed peoples of the world are coming forward with a political alternative, the crisis confronting humankind in manifold ways will intensify further, irrespective of whether US is replaced by another hegemon or another imperialist bloc, or a by a different multipolar order.
P J James is General Secretary, CPI (ML) Red Star
3 July 2025
Source: countercurrents.org
