The U.S. Is Late to the Game: China Has Been Playing the Tariff Strategy for Decades

When the United States slapped new tariffs on Chinese goods—again—many saw it as a bold move to “level the playing field.” But the truth is far more sobering: Washington is playing catch-up in a game that Beijing mastered long ago.

For decades, China has strategically used tariffs, subsidies, and non-tariff barriers to protect and promote its industries. This isn’t new. While the U.S. was preaching the gospel of free markets and globalization, China was busy building an economic fortress—quietly but effectively.

China’s Quiet Wall of Tariffs
Long before the trade war began under Trump or continued in different forms under Biden, China had already designed a protective ecosystem around its critical sectors. Tariffs were just one part of it. China combined high import duties with:

• Strict local content requirements
• Government procurement preferences for domestic firms
• Massive subsidies for state-owned enterprises and emerging strategic industries like EVs, solar panels, and semiconductors
• Non-tariff barriers including red tape, licensing, and opaque regulations that often favor Chinese players

All of this allowed China to absorb foreign technology, protect its internal markets, and push out its exports—especially in high-value industries.

America’s Late Realization
Now, the U.S. is waking up. The CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the recent round of tariffs targeting EVs, batteries, and solar technology are part of an overdue strategy to stem China’s dominance in future industries. But let’s be honest—it’s late in the day.

China is no longer the world’s low-tech factory floor. It’s now a tech giant with deep control over rare earths, battery supply chains, solar manufacturing, and even AI. By the time America starts setting up guardrails, China already owns the racetrack.

The Hypocrisy of Free Trade
What’s ironic is how free trade ideologues in the U.S. once dismissed any form of protectionism—until the numbers got too alarming to ignore. Trade deficits ballooned. Industrial jobs vanished. And supply chains became dangerously China-dependent. Suddenly, “strategic decoupling” became the new gospel.

But if free trade was so sacred, why did China win by ignoring it?

Time for a Smarter Playbook
If the U.S. wants to catch up, it needs more than tariffs. It needs:

• Long-term industrial strategy, not just election-year rhetoric
• Investment in education and R&D, to stay ahead in tech
• Allied reshoring, pulling friendly countries into new value chains
• Tighter IP protection and enforcement, especially in AI and semiconductors

And perhaps most importantly: a dose of humility. Because the world’s largest economy just realized it’s been playing by outdated rules, while its biggest rival rewrote the playbook decades ago.