SHANGHAI - There have been numerous misconceptions circulating about Americas power for many years.The prowess of American power remained in some method existential, but the misconceptions were something that had actually been largely constructed.
The myths of Americas financial, technological, and political power and security defense were amongst these.
However the recent years have seen all four misconceptions have actually been shattered across the world.
And there is no factor that the United States is not declining.First American financial power was shattered The United States used to be the single most important economy worldwide, both in terms of quantity and quality.
In 2001, the GDPs of the United States , Japan, and China were respectively, 10.58 trillion, 4.37 trillion, and 1.34 trillion dollars, and the United States GDP was 2.4 times that of Japan, the second, and 7.9 times that of China.
The United States was then considered as the single most important power engine of the international economy.But things have actually changed rapidly in the last twenty years.
According to data, in 2024, the United States GDP, which was about 29.2 trillion dollars, took up 30% of the world total while that of China was 18.5 trillion dollars, 63 percent that of the United States Though the United States would remain the biggest economy for the years to come, yet it had actually been Chinas economy that had added to 30% of international economic growth in spite of difficulties in the last few years in contrast to Americas 12-15%.
China has actually remained the largest trader for 8 consecutive years, and the biggest trade partner for the biggest number of partners.For many years, the United States , together with European nations, had monopolized exports of products of high added value, high innovation contents, or high brand values.
However things have actually altered in recent years as the world discovered nations, including China, had actually taken up a substantial proportion of the worldwide market in locations needing sophisticated innovations, such as telecommunication centers, solar panels and electrical lorries, and numerous other advanced items.
The most current choice of Trump to launch mutual tariffs would even more separate the United States as an island worldwide defined by globalization.
And it is extensively thought that such a policy will not serve to restore United States markets; rather, it will accelerate the decrease of United States economic impact.
Americas contribution to the worldwide economy will further shrink, and its status as a financial power will predictably be weakened.In one word, the worldwide financial landscape was changing in an amazing method, and the reality was out there that the United States was losing its benefit in both quantity and quality.
The United States is no longer the largest power engine of the global economy, and the myth of its economic power is fading.Second was the misconception of technological powerThe United States was considered the most crucial center of technological innovation for many years.
It had actually been leading the world in innovation in nearly all areas, consisting of telecommunication, internet software and hardware, energy, biotechnology and military innovation at the beginning of the new century.But since the early second ten years, the United States has actually slowly lost its advantages, consisting of in interaction innovation.
Chinas Huawei began the fifth-generation technology research study in 2009 and has actually been leading the industry considering that the middle of the second ten years of the new century.
And the United States discovered that it could no longer monopolize innovations in communication, photovoltaic panels, UAVs, electrical cars, and stealth aircraft.A number of years earlier, Americans believed that so long as it managed the source of innovative chips, it would be able to outcompete China in AI technology and industry, as it was thought that advanced chips were a precondition for the advancement of AI innovation and market.
But the story of DeepSeek in early 2025 showed that China currently exceeded the United States in some areas even without innovative chips, though China is progressing significantly in chip technology.The United States might still take pleasure in some benefits in innovation, however its monopoly has actually been broken.
That indicates the world can survive without United States technologies and maybe live better lives.Third was political power specified by Western political liberalismFrancis Fukuyama used to argue that the endpoint of mankinds ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy was the last type of human federal government.
In spite of challenges throughout the world versus the argument, the model of Western political liberalism has actually been commonly enshrined for many years throughout the world.
But history showed that none of these duplications had succeeded, whether they were passive ones like Afghanistan and Iraq or semi-active ones by color revolutions.Ironically, the last decade witnessed extremely serious political chaos in the United States as a result of the so-called liberal democracy.
The check-and-balance approach had actually developed into a pure political instrument, bargaining for the political interests of factions instead of guaranteeing affordable usage of nationwide resources.
The same approach likewise made the United States government stagnate as a result of confrontations between political factions, and the regular shutdowns of the government are simply one example.The elections of the United States utilized to be considered symbols of Western political liberalism.
Ironically, the failure of Trumps election in 2020 resulted in violence on Capitol Hill riots rather of liberty pursued by normal Americans, while the success of Trumps election in 2024 produced fanaticism in United States domestic politics, developing concerns not only in the world however likewise at home.
It was likewise crystal clear that various elections had been controlled by lobbyists unreasonably supporting the interests of a particular foreign country.Intervention for humanitarian issues had long been considered another symbol of political liberalism.
For several years, the United States had actually been waving the banner of intervention in the name of protecting humanism.
However the current case of the United States position on the Palestine problem has completely shown the hypocritical nature of the technique.
The United States had actually provided political shelter and military help for Israels atrocities on the territories designated to Palestinians in the UN General Assembly resolution 181.
All these taken place without regard to the humanitarian catastrophe in Palestine.To put it another method, the so-called American political liberalism has actually made its domestic politics unbelievably disorderly and exposed to the world its political hypocrisy.Fourth was American security protectionThere used to be a strong belief amongst some nations that the United States might offer security umbrellas.
In the Persian Gulf area, such a belief had actually been strengthened by the military operations led by the United States to drive Saddam Hussein back to Iraq in the early 1990s.
But the countries had actually awakened to the truth that the United States failed to measure up to its security dedications in 2019 through 2020.
Some Palestinians thought that they could depend upon the United States for their liberation and or protection of their security.
Nevertheless, the exceptionally biased technique of the United States only increased their desperation.The most typical example should be the Ukraine case.
The United States , under Bidens presidency, sent really strong signals of security protection for Ukraine.
It was mostly due to such signals that Ukraine declined a political option to the conflict at the very beginning of 2022.
Unfortunately, the year 2025, throughout Trumps presidency, the United States broke its security protection, which turned over an exactly opposite page for the Ukraine problem, leaving Ukraine in anxiety and loss of direction.Lessons of the Middle East are major, while the lesson of Ukraine is even bitter.
The United States itself is deconstructing the myth of its security defense, though impressions might exist in some other locations, like the Asia-Pacific for the United States In one word, it might be true that the United States was a frightening, enormous power, with which various misconceptions of its power had formed.
Something built can be similarly deconstructed.
Misconceptions of American power are there mainly by construction and are being deconstructed with the death of time and history.
And Americans themselves, consisting of Donald Trump, are in fact part of the worldwide efforts of such deconstruction.
There is no factor that the United States will not decline.By Dr.
Jin Liangxiang is a Senior Fellow of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies