Is the US in decline while China’s power grows?

Ian Explains: America Down, China Up | GZERO World

Who said last year that the biggest source of chaos in the present-day world is the US?

Not the leader of Russia. Not of North Korea. Not even of Iran.

It was Xi Jinping, who believes America poses a major risk for China.

The US feels the same about China. And while the two probably won't go to war anytime soon, ties remain tense. What's more, China has become so powerful that its political system is now accepted by all.

While China’s economic growth has been impressive, even during COVID, the pandemic has widened inequality and political divisions in the US. For Beijing, it's a sign that the East is rising as the West declines. Is it? Ian Bremmer takes a look.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Does China's rise have to mean America's decline?

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

America’s retreat from global aid is leaving a massive funding gap that no other country is stepping in to fill, leaving the world’s poorest to pay the price, warns IRC president & CEO David Miliband on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer.

College graduate unemployment rate.
Eileen Zhang

“Pain and agony and suffering,” wrote Sam Angel, about his job hunt. He recently graduated with a masters in Cold War military history from Columbia University in New York, having decided to go right into a masters program after finishing undergrad.

Protesters line the street outside Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee, Florida, holding signs during a vigil on Aug. 10, 2025.

60: A federal judge gave the White House and the Florida state government 60 days to shut down “Alligator Alcatraz,” a controversial immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that has become a symbol of US President Donald Trump’s severe immigration policies.