In a time when soundbites and slogans dominate policy discussions, We Are Funding China’s Growth That Must Stop! by Edouard Prisse lands like a jolt of clarity. It’s not a book of rhetoric or political gamesmanship—it’s a meticulously argued wake-up call to the United States and its allies. The core message is blunt: the West is unintentionally underwriting the rise of its most significant rival, and time is running out to change course.
Prisse’s argument begins with a historical analysis. He traces the problem back to 2001, when President Bill Clinton championed China’s entry into the World Trade Organization. At the time, the belief was that opening China to global trade would encourage liberalization and reform. Instead, China remained authoritarian and leveraged the open global market to build an economic war machine. Western leaders, caught in free-market optimism, failed to grasp the long-term consequences.
Prisse is not alone in his concern, but what sets him apart is the depth of his economic reasoning. Drawing on Keynesian principles, he shows that China’s trade surplus with the West—over $600 billion annually—is not just a statistical imbalance. It is the primary funding source for China’s foreign policy expansion, its Belt and Road Initiative, its digital influence campaigns, and its ability to prop up inefficient sectors of its own economy. That trade surplus is not just profit. It is power.
But Prisse doesn’t stop at diagnosis. He offers a detailed, realistic solution: transition from free trade with China to what he calls Equal Trade. In this scenario, the U.S. limits imports from China to match the value of American exports to China. This approach is not about protectionism, but strategic equilibrium. It’s about cutting off the economic fuel that drives authoritarian expansion without isolating China or collapsing global trade.
He also critiques past U.S. trade measures that failed to change the balance. Tariffs under the Trump administration were too shallow to dent China’s advantage. Biden’s moves, while more deliberate, have been partial and hesitant. Prisse argues that unless the White House adopts a coordinated, principle-based plan—and brings the public along through education and transparency—the status quo will persist until the damage is irreversible.
The book also tackles an under-discussed issue: the presence of a “fifth column” of pro-China narratives in U.S. academic and media institutions. Prisse doesn’t claim there’s a conspiracy, but he provides evidence that Chinese-born scholars and intellectuals, knowingly or not, often push narratives that soften or distract from Beijing’s global behavior. These subtle campaigns complicate domestic understanding and slow down political will to act.
Ultimately, We Are Funding China’s Growth That Must Stop! is not an anti-China book. It’s a pro-America, pro-democracy, pro-reality book. Prisse himself has lived in China, built relationships there, and even raised a family with a Chinese partner. His respect for the people is clear. What he condemns is the system—an authoritarian regime exploiting global openness to entrench control and project power.
This is a book for policymakers, journalists, economists, and ordinary citizens. It insists that America must stop ignoring the obvious. Trade with China as it stands today is not free, and it is not fair. It is a gift that empowers a regime hostile to democratic values.
Whether or not leaders will listen remains uncertain. But the warning has been delivered—and it could not be more urgent.
