U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping. [Reuters=Yonhap News]

The Trump camp, which experienced friction with the bureaucracy (the so-called deep state) due to a lack of preparation during Donald Trump's first term as the 45th President, has thoroughly prepared in advance through think tanks for the 47th term.

The two pillars of strategy development are notably the Heritage Foundation's 'Project 2025' and the America First Policy Institute's (AFPI) 'America First Agenda'.

Beyond simple policy proposals, they have built a database of thousands of loyalists ready for immediate deployment upon the administration's launch and have even prepared draft executive orders.

Against this backdrop, the MAGA (Make America Great Again) camp has recently released a monumental report fundamentally reinterpreting the global political and economic order. This report is noteworthy for its candid revelation of the MAGA camp's true intentions and strategies.

The MAGA perspective directly refutes the framing by legacy media outlets, which traditionally viewed international political dynamics solely through the lens of military confrontation or diplomatic isolationism. Instead, it demonstrates that the essence of President Trump's foreign policy is a sophisticated, 21st-century form of comprehensive economic warfare.

Legacy media outlets, observing Trump's interventionist policies in the Middle East and South America, have focused on superficial criticisms such as "He's trying to engage in reckless military intervention again" and "These are warmongering actions." The problem is that these outlets have been publishing articles that echo the positions of Iran or China in the Iran War, uncritically promoting the narrative that China is surpassing the United States.

However, strategic analysts aligned with the MAGA camp recognize the grand chessboard hidden behind Trump's actions. In other words, the apparent measures such as pressuring the Maduro regime in Venezuela and inflicting military and diplomatic blows on Iran are by no means the ultimate goals. The true ultimate target of all these targeted strikes and sanctions is to "pull the plug on the oxygen supply of the Chinese economy."

The Achilles' Heel of the Chinese Economy: Loss of Cost Competitiveness Due to Purchasing Crude Oil at Market Prices

China is undeniably the "world's factory" and the world's largest manufacturing nation. However, immense energy is essential to power the heavy machinery of its manufacturing sector.

'The World's Factory,' China. [CG=Yonhap News]

The most critical weakness of the Chinese economy lies in its severe shortage of domestic energy resources to sustain this massive manufacturing base. The fate of Chinese manufacturing is entirely dependent on the stability of its 'overseas energy supply chain' (relying on imports for 70% of crude oil and 40% of natural gas).

For the past several years, China has been covertly importing vast quantities of crude oil exclusively from Iran and Venezuela, which were under stringent economic sanctions from the United States and the international community. According to statistics, China has purchased an overwhelming 80% to 90% of Iran's total oil exports.

Unable to sell oil on the normal international market due to U.S. sanctions, Iran and Venezuela had no choice but to sell their oil to China at steep discounts. To evade U.S. financial surveillance, payments were made not in dollars but through 'RMB settlements' or 'third-country circumventing Murabaha trade methods.'

This ultra-low-cost crude oil was the driving force behind China's manufacturing sector's ability to dominate global markets with low-price dumping. Fueled by cheap energy, China lowered its production costs, acting like a black hole that sucked in capital and factories from around the world, ultimately leading to the decline of traditional manufacturing bases, including America's Rust Belt.

The MAGA camp diagnoses that the downfall of the United States and the rise of China began from this unfair and distorted energy supply structure. Therefore, Trump's strategy goes beyond a mere shift in foreign policy; it carries the character of a 'structural systemic attack' that shakes the very foundations of China's economic system.

Trump's Pincer Movement: Raising China's Costs and Rebuilding American Industry (Reshoring)

The basic equation of the economic warfare led by Trump is based on a sophisticated two-front strategy.

On one front, the strategy involves thoroughly cutting off the cheap energy channels that China relies on, drastically increasing the cost structure of Chinese manufacturing. On the other front, it involves simultaneously promoting reshoring by attracting global corporations' capital back to the U.S. mainland through tax incentives and deregulation.

As the U.S. strengthens maritime sanctions on the Strait of Hormuz and directly pressures Iran's refining facilities and supply chains, the discounted oil routes flowing to China will be severed. China will then have to purchase energy at normal international oil prices. The rise in oil prices will trigger a domino effect of increased electricity costs for factories, logistics expenses, and raw material processing costs within China.

The sole reason global consumers purchased Chinese products was not superior quality but their overwhelmingly low prices. If cost increases push the prices of Chinese products close to those of American or Japanese goods, consumers will naturally opt for products from more trusted sources like the U.S. or Japan. This signifies the end of China's most potent weapon: its low-cost manufacturing competitiveness.

Concurrently, a historic industrial reset is taking shape within the United States. The following data illustrate the tangible corporate investment trends indicating a rapid return of global capital from China, laden with risks, to the U.S.:

△Tech and Semiconductor Sector: Companies like Apple and Nvidia have officially announced massive new investments in manufacturing facilities and research centers in the U.S., totaling hundreds of billions of dollars.

△Manufacturing and Materials Sector: The construction of advanced foundry plants by GlobalFoundries and eco-friendly electric vehicle battery production lines by Ford in the U.S. are materializing.

△Healthcare and Biotechnology Sector: Healthcare giants such as Johnson & Johnson are also confirming large-scale domestic investments based on the principle of a secure, U.S.-centric supply chain.

The MAGA camp asserts that these phenomena are not a natural market trend but the direct result of Trump's strategic interventions—tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and energy route blockades—intentionally creating a grand industrial restoration project.

The End of the De-dollarization Fantasy

Over the past decade, numerous domestic and international media outlets and pro-China economists have spread the so-called 'de-dollarization collapse theory,' proclaiming, "The era of the dollar is over," and "The China, Russia, and BRICS system will shatter America's financial hegemony."

China, in particular, has been pushing for the internationalization of the 'Petro-Yuan' by settling oil payments in RMB, while Russia has pursued the creation of its own BRICS payment system.

However, as geopolitical uncertainty and tensions in the Middle East escalate, and the global economic crisis deepens, all capital and nations worldwide are ultimately forced to rely on the 'U.S. dollar' as the safest haven.

※The U.S. dollar's share in the SWIFT global payment system has surpassed 51.1% (restoring its highest-ever dominance), and dollar settlement for global oil and major energy transactions remains around 80%.

The fact that core energy, including crude oil, is still settled in dollars means that all countries worldwide must hold dollars to purchase oil, which in turn places them under the influence of the U.S. financial system and the Federal Reserve.

Trump's ultra-hardline foreign strategy aims to physically dismantle the non-dollarized trading systems that China has been covertly building, thereby repositioning the dollar not merely as a currency but as a 'key weapon of American hegemony' and restoring absolute dominance over the financial order.

MAGA's Vision for the Future World Order and Implications

MAGA strongly criticizes the globalist administrations of Obama and Biden for allowing China's cheap labor and sanction-evading energy to contribute to the collapse of the American middle class and the devastation of its manufacturing sector. In contrast, Trump is portrayed as a unique leader who transformed America's defensive foreign policy into a perfect offensive conversion.

In the context of the current Iran War, MAGA's objectives are to ensure the smooth transport of international energy through the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, to conclude Iran's nuclear weapons program and its related materials, and ultimately, to establish lasting peace in the Middle East by bringing Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman into the Abraham Accords.

Trump's operations to pressure Middle Eastern and South American energy sectors are not merely short-term military actions aimed at ousting specific dictatorships. They are also long-term peace strategies designed to curtail China's long-term growth trajectory prematurely, thereby preempting potential large-scale military conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region, such as a future invasion of Taiwan or disputes over territorial claims in the South China Sea, from an economic standpoint.

The global economy has now entered an era of 'China Risk.' For global corporations, supply chain priorities are no longer about cost reduction but about security and safety. The only safe alternative destination is a new supply chain system centered around the United States. The grand blueprint of America First, as envisioned by Trump, is relentlessly advancing towards a great reset that unifies economics, finance, and energy to re-establish America as the world's unparalleled manufacturing empire and hegemonic power.

Ultimately, as the U.S. MAGA camp enters the execution phase of its global strategy, the scenario facing the Korean Peninsula will not be one where the U.S. unilaterally removes obstacles. Instead, it will be a test of self-reliance where South Korea must either prove its value as an ally or face an unbearable bill. Given the meticulousness of America's preparations, our internal strategic planning and ideological cohesion must be as rigorous and precise as never before.

◆ Dr. Shin Dong-choon

Doctor of Public Administration, Representative of the National Coalition for Freedom and Unification. After passing the 21st Higher Civil Service Examination and serving in public office, he has been active as a corporate CEO, university professor, media columnist, author, and Chairman of the Global Aerospace Industry Association.