The Art of War meets The Art of the Deal

By: Lisa Van Houten

To:  Friends
From:  Bill Johnson
Re: The Art of War meets The Art of the Deal
Date:  April 10, 2025

By Lisa Van Houten

Ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu in his famous military treatise, The Art of War, wrote: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

It’s a strategy Communist China (CCP) has been engaged in for years against the United States.

The CCP seeks to supplant the U.S. to become the dominant world power, both economically and militarily.  For years, Beijing has been utilizing unrestricted warfare to undermine and subdue the United States through a multi-prong campaign – without having to fire a shot.

Communist China has turned the illicit drug fentanyl into a weapon, killing over 200 Americans every single day – that’s the equivalent of a Boeing 737 crashing daily. China produces nearly all the key ingredients for fentanyl, exporting them to be smuggled into the US. “The influx of these drugs to our Nation threatens the fabric of our society,” President Trump has said.

The CCP is taking every opportunity to plant a strategic foothold in our nation.  China increasing has it’s hooks in the American food industry.  Chinese companies with ties to the CCP having purchased Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processing company in the world; have formed an alliance with Dairy Farmers of America Inc.; and own a majority stake in Tyson Foods.  It would be foolish to think the CCP isn’t engaged in a long-term strategy to manipulate or control our food supply.

As of January 2024, Chinese companies also owned roughly 400,000 acres of America’s farmland.  That alone is concerning, but where that farmland is located makes it even more troubling.  The vast majority surrounds U.S. military bases, giving access for spying or sabotage.  Brooke Rollins, Trump’s head of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), has stated that one of her top priorities is to stop China from buying U.S. farmland.   Numerous states have already been working toward state legislation that would restrict property ownership by foreign entities, including here in Michigan.

This picture shows Chinese-owned farmland (in red) and its vicinity to military bases.

Other threats include the tens of thousands of military-age Chinese men who entered the U.S. under Biden’s open border, with numerous reports of Chinese nationals seeking to breach military facilities and a dramatic increase of CCP spying under the Biden administration.  And check out this troubling report from Congressman Pat Harrigan.

As Beijing seeks ways to undermine the U.S. military, China has been busy strengthening their own.  China has more troops, more ships, and may soon have more nuclear weapons than the United States. The trade imbalance between the U.S. and China is tied to our national security, as Beijing uses its massive surplus to fund its military. “We don’t want that,” Trump said in the Oval Office on April 7. “I don’t want them to take $500 [billion], $600 billion a year and spend it on their military.”

While China has built up their economy, their military, and their worldwide influence over the last several decades, the U.S. has apathetically traded our national security for cheap products.  In exchange, we’ve become reliant upon China for our pharmaceuticals, technology, and a host of other goods and services.

This has all led up to the current warfare with China in which President Trump is engaged – a trade war.  This is far more than a battle over tariffs.  Trump understands the existential threat that the CCP poses to America and is therefore working toward a “strategic decoupling” with China.  Through massive tariffs on Chinese exports, President Trump is seeking to weaken China’s economy – which will hopefully encourage American companies to return manufacturing to the United States.

The U.S. trade deficit with China was about $300 billion in 2024, which means Trump’s tariffs will ultimately have a greater impact on China. China has built its economy on exports produced by cheap labor – even slave labor and forced child labor. Our own State Department has documented the abuse of human rights by China, including “genocide and crimes against humanity … against predominately Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.”  Also noteworthy, the CCP is cracking down on Christian missionary activity in China, prohibiting “foreigners from preaching, sharing their faith, or establishing religious organizations without official government approval,” Persecution.org reports.

As U.S. companies moved production to China to take advantage of cheap labor and line their pockets, the impact has undermined our economic stability and national security. We may have gotten cheap products, but we’ve paid a great price. At least 2.4 million manufacturing jobs have been lost, impacting entire communities. In addition, America has become dependent upon China for essential necessities such as pharmaceuticals, over the counter drugs, and medical supplies. This dangerous reliance upon China for our healthcare needs to end.

As Kevin O’Leary stated on CNN: “104% tariffs on China are not enough, I’m advocating 400%. I do business in China, they don’t play by the rules. They’ve been in the WTO for decades. They have never abided by any of the rules they agreed to when they came in for decades. They cheat, they steal, they steal IP [intellectual property], I can’t litigate in their courts. They take product, technology, they steal it, they manufacture it and sell it back here … This is not about tariffs anymore. Nobody has taken on China yet … As someone who actually does business there, I’ve had enough. I speak for millions of Americans who have IP that have been stolen by the Chinese … the government cheats and steals and FINALLY an administration that puts up and says ‘enough!’ …”

“Trump is also working to reverse our reliance on China for critical minerals, which has reached crisis proportions, presenting a grave national security risk to the homeland. These minerals serve as an essential function in manufacturing vital products, including our most sensitive weapon systems,” reports Rebekah Koffler.  The U.S. is 100% import-reliant for 12 of the 50 most critical minerals, while China produces 90% of the world’s rare earth minerals.

This is part of the reason for Trump’s strategy to align with or acquire Greenland, which has massive untapped deposits of rare earth minerals.  This report from 2018 shows that China has long been seeking to establish a foothold in Greenland and control strategic Arctic shipping lanes, just as they’ve done in Panama.

China has made great gains in their quest for global dominance – but now they may have met their match in President Trump, who, in a global game of chess, is using trade, tariffs, and treaties to undermine the threat the CCP poses to America.  Trump is taking a page out of China’s own playbook, merging The Art of War with The Art of the Deal.  “Trump is the bull in China’s shop,” to quote a headline at PJ Media.

In this game of chicken between Communist China and Donald Trump, China may have met its match.

 

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