It is one of the strangest contradictions of our time. The United States recognizes China as its main economic and strategic competitor, yet every year, billions of American dollars flow directly into China’s economy. This isn’t charity or investment; it’s the result of a trade imbalance that has quietly reshaped the world’s power structure. And as economist Edouard Prisse argues, it’s an imbalance that was predictable, and reversible, if we have the will to fix it.
For more than two decades, the U.S. has imported far more from China than it exports. On the surface, this looks like efficiency: American consumers get low‑cost products, and companies earn higher profits by outsourcing production. But beneath those savings lies a steady transfer of wealth. Every dollar that flows into China through trade strengthens its industrial base, increases its foreign reserves, and funds global projects that expand its reach. The result is an economic engine powered, in part, by American demand.
Prisse’s book explains that this pattern didn’t happen by accident. When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, it had a unique combination of advantages: an enormous supply of low‑cost labor, strict central control over wages and investment, and a government willing to support industries no matter the cost. Western leaders believed this arrangement would eventually even out, that free trade would modernize China and open it to global norms. Instead, it allowed China to build an export empire.
Those trade surpluses, amounting to hundreds of billions annually, did not vanish. Instead, they were channeled into global ports, railways, energy grids, and telecommunications networks. This investment has facilitated what Prisse refers to as “soft control,” where owning infrastructure translates into political influence. Countries across Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of Europe now depend on Chinese funding for vital development initiatives. The funds originated from somewhere, and a significant portion initially stemmed from the Western consumer market.
So why are we still funding this growth? The short answer is habit and short‑term profit. Businesses that rely on low manufacturing costs are reluctant to change. Governments, meanwhile, have avoided confronting the problem because rebalancing trade means rethinking economic priorities. While cheap imports offer quick benefits, their long-term costs, such as job losses, weakened industries, and increased foreign reliance, accumulate gradually, often making them easier to overlook.
Prisse’s solution, Equal Trade, is simple but profound. Instead of permitting unlimited imports, the U.S. should only buy from China what China buys from the U.S., measured in value, not volume. That balance would prevent excess capital flow and encourage fairer competition on both sides. It wouldn’t isolate China or disrupt the global system. Instead, it would restore stability.
Continuing on the current path means losing control over production, technology, and policy. It means watching other nations grow stronger using the wealth we provide. Prisse’s message is clear: we cannot keep financing a rival’s rise and expect a different outcome.
Every purchase matters, every trade decision counts, and every policy delay deepens the problem. If America wants to remain competitive, it must stop funding someone else’s future.
For more information and insight, read We Are Funding China’s Growth That Must Stop! to understand how this imbalance began and how we can still correct it—before it defines the next century.
Here is a link to purchase: www.amazon.com/dp/1967963053.
We Were Funding China’s Growth That Must Stop! by Edouard Prisse is a sharp, well-researched examination of how decades of misguided free trade with China have fueled the rise of America’s greatest rival. Drawing on the economic insights of John Maynard Keynes, Prisse explains how the 2001 decision to welcome China into the global trade system created a one-sided relationship that drained Western industries while empowering Beijing’s authoritarian regime. The book not only exposes the dangers of this ongoing imbalance, such as job losses, weakened manufacturing, and growing geopolitical risks, but also offers a clear solution: shifting from “free trade” to “Equal Trade,” a value-balanced system that ensures reciprocity and protects democracy. Both a warning and a roadmap, this book is essential reading for policymakers, business leaders, economists, and citizens who care about safeguarding the future of free societies.