2025: Imperialism’s myth declines; resistance endures.
In an interview with IRNA in London on Tuesday, Stephen Bell, a senior member of the British Stop the War Coalition, said, drawing a picture of the world in 2025: “The most important reality of this year was the continued success of the Chinese economy compared to the United States.”
He emphasized that this shift in economic weight was directly reflected in the formation of trade wars and then the acceleration of the logic of force in American foreign policy.
Citing International Monetary Fund estimates, Bell emphasized: China’s economy will be $10.4 trillion larger than the US economy at the end of 2025, based on purchasing power parity. This balance has been the main engine of competition and tension in 2025.
The British analyst continued by describing the tariff war as Washington’s attempt to contain China’s rise and said: “At least since former US President Barack Obama began the policy of pivoting to Asia, the United States’ goal has been to prevent China’s rise.”
Bell added: In the first year of his second term, US President Donald Trump tried to curb the decline of the United States with heavy tariffs and turn the world economy towards Washington’s interests outside multilateral rules, including the rules of the World Trade Organization.
He said: Trump first imposed tariffs of up to 145% against China, but Beijing was not intimidated and responded by imposing reciprocal tariffs and then restricting access to rare earth elements. This reaction caused Trump to back down, and by the end of the year, the average US tariffs against China reached 37%.
Explaining the consequences of this confrontation, Bell said: Even if some sectors of the Chinese economy felt the pressure, the Beijing government shifted investment and trade away from the United States and especially towards increasing exchanges with ASEAN countries.
He emphasized that China’s trade not only did not shrink, but also exceeded one trillion dollars for the first time, concluding that Trump’s protectionist measures had failed.
He considered the outlook for 2026 to be a continuation of this trend, and stated that China will begin its 15th five-year plan next year, adding: The International Monetary Fund has predicted that China will have the largest share in global economic growth during the implementation period of this plan.
Bell stated: Based on these estimates, the Chinese economy will increase by $13.1 trillion during this period, while the US economic growth is estimated at $6.2 trillion.
The senior member of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK continued: What stood out in 2025 was that if the US can no longer rebuild the global economy as it has in the past, it will continue to try to achieve goals through military means that cannot be achieved through economic competition.