The meaning of Trump’s trip to China

Trump is in Beijing. He thinks he has gone to negotiate from a position of strength, but in reality, he is negotiating from a position of weakness. That is the story of American imperialism in 2026.

In this week's episode of Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh and Jorge Martín give a Marxist analysis of what the Iran War has done to American power, what it means for China, and what it reveals about the deeper historical decline of US imperialism.

The episode covers a lot of ground. Analysing two extraordinary pieces from the American press – one by a MAGA theoretician in the New York Times, one by neocon hawk Robert Kagan in the Atlantic – it is clear that even parts of the American ruling class are now writing obituaries for American hegemony.

A CIA intelligence assessment confirms that Iran retains 70 percent of its pre-war missile stockpiles and 80 percent of its mobile launchers. Operation Freedom, the US attempt to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, lasted just 36 hours. American weapons stocks will take three to five years to replace. And Trump has, for the first time in US history, agreed to discuss arms deliveries to Taiwan with China.

Meanwhile, China has 1.2 billion barrels of oil in reserve and hasn't touched them. It controls 90 percent of global rare earth refining. It produces over 3.5 million STEM graduates a year – compared to 820,000 in the US. And it is now the go-to power for everyone from the Philippines to Venezuela who needs an alternative to Washington.

The episode also asks the deeper question: how did we get here? Is China just better run, or is something more fundamental going on? And is the decline of American imperialism actually a good thing for the working class of the world?

New episodes of Against the Stream air every Thursday at 6pm GMT on YouTube.

📖 Recommended reading

Opinion | America Is Officially an Empire in Decline - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/opinion/iran-us-empire.html

Checkmate in Iran - The Atlantic

www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/iran-war-trump-losing/687094/

Ted Grant - Will There Be A Slump?

https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1960/slump.htm