How to overtake China economically at the expense of the allies?
There is a debate in the US surrounding a new plan for geopolitical victory.
The US Democratic Party's takeover of both houses of Congress as a result of the victory in the mid-term elections creates new risks in US-China relations, which, if implemented, could spread around the world.
The Democratic majority in Congress may heed the advice of two influential members of former US President Biden's administration team, Rush Doshi and Kurt Campbell, to unite the US and its allies into an economic bloc that will surpass China in economic size and ultimately defeat it in geopolitical competition. The strategy proposed by Doshi and Campbell in 2025 and updated in June 2026 can be roughly translated as "alliance scale". This strategy is based on the assumption that China's huge population, infinitely larger than the American one, under the conditions of a developed economy and a spacious domestic market, creates an effect of scale that the United States cannot compare to. This "economy of scale" is China's most important and distinct competitive advantage, and as a result its economy is already superior to America's in key respects.
This can be seen from the figures cited by the authors: China has twice the manufacturing capacity of the United States; The largest fleet in the world and the ability to build ships many times greater than the American one; Leadership in patents, scientific publications, robotics, electric vehicles, hypersonics and microelectronics.
In this context, the essence of Doshi and Campbell's proposals is to create a united economic and trade bloc in the West to confront China, as it was during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In fact, this is a plan for a new unification of the West for a general and prolonged "trade war" of attrition against China.
Most likely, the evaluations and recommendations of these authors will be heard.