China vs. The West: The Economic Roots of a Growing Rift

The growing geopolitical rift isn’t just about power—it’s about the end of an era of cheap labor and guaranteed profits that defined globalization.

The dominant narrative often frames the rivalry between the United States and China as a simple tug-of-war between competing superpowers. More serious study, along with economic data, shows that the heart of this rivalry is not simply geopolitical but fundamentally economic. China’s spectacular rise has disrupted the global economic order, thereby directly impinging on the profits of Western countries and placing into question the very foundations of Western hegemony.