What was once unthinkable is now a geopolitical reality: Russia and China — historic rivals, “natural enemies” in Trump’s words — are moving closer than ever, and the former president says Americans have Joe Biden to thank for it.
Fresh off his high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, President Donald Trump torched his predecessor’s foreign policy, accusing Biden of making the one mistake no U.S. leader should ever make: forcing Moscow and Beijing into each other’s arms.
“He [Biden] did something that was unthinkable,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “He drove China and Russia together. That’s not good… it’s the one thing you didn’t want to do. Because they are basically natural enemies.”
Trump didn’t stop there. He claimed Russia’s vast landmass — and China’s growing hunger for resources to feed its massive population — create a natural tension between the two powers. But instead of exploiting that divide, Biden’s policies “because of pure stupidity,” as Trump put it, shoved them into a partnership that now threatens America’s global dominance.
At the core of Trump’s criticism are Biden’s sweeping sanctions — measures aimed at punishing Moscow over Ukraine while simultaneously tightening restrictions on Beijing’s access to U.S. technology, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence. Instead of isolating them, Trump argues, these moves united them.
The results are clear. Trade between Russia and China has soared to record highs, energy exports have been rerouted eastward, and both nations are ditching the U.S. dollar in favor of their own currencies. What Biden painted as a strategy of “maximum pressure” has morphed into a geopolitical own goal — one that Trump says has created a bloc powerful enough to challenge Washington itself.
Trump’s own strategy, however, is strikingly different. Since taking office in January, he’s dialed up tariffs on Chinese goods but refrained from fresh sanctions on Moscow. His Alaska talks with Putin were hailed as “very productive” and, in his words, showed “great progress” toward a resolution of the Ukraine conflict. The subtext is clear: Trump sees a chance to peel Russia away from Beijing by offering dialogue instead of punishment — something Biden never even considered.
Critics will argue Trump’s overtures to Putin risk alienating allies. Supporters counter that avoiding a hardened Russia-China axis may be the only way to preserve U.S. influence in the 21st century. What can’t be denied is that the stakes have never been higher.
If Trump is right, Biden may have set into motion one of the most dangerous geopolitical shifts in modern history — a forced friendship between two “natural enemies” with the power to upend the world order.
