[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Emergency_Econom...
[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_emergencies_i...
Sanctions are crystal clear thanks to the IEEPA [1]. The president needs only declare an emergency, which is typically done in the exact same executive order imposing the sanctions. We're currently under at least 42 different national "emergencies", of which 34 are to impose sanctions. [2] The legal basis for tariffs is less clear, but in effect no different. Trump's tariffs [3] were all passed unilaterally, appealing to all sorts of acts that grant the president conditional tariff powers, but where the condition is framed in a broad enough way to include nearly any rationale.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Emergency_Econom...
[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_emergencies_i...
In China, Xi can decide to impose tariffs or sanctions, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
The NPC has immense power. They can override anything Xi Jinping does, and even have the power to completely recall him, or amend the constitution. But of course this won't happen. They have a one-party system with relatively minimal internal conflict. So even though the NPC is genuinely powerful and has every check and balance imaginable, they will not be using them.
They didn't declare war, which is unfortunate but congress did approve.
1. Democratic countries that mostly abide by international law and the rules-based order.
2. Non-democratic countries that also mostly abide by international law and the rules-based order, because they benefit from it more than not doing so.
3. Non-democratic countries that reject international law and the rules-based order.
The US trades with #1 and #2, and was hoping to make China into #2. But unfortunately it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, China is in the grey area between #2 and #3 and probably trending toward #3.
Democracy is also much more beholden to corporate interests as much of the US government has already been infiltrated by big business.
I think the US has grown up. We are well past the time of worshiping the idealism of democracy and we are now actually seeing the raw truth. That democracy is simply one side of a coin. It is just one side of debate between monolith and micro services.
There are lots of "dictatorships" where living is better then in lots of other "democracies", but this is not something you'll figure out from your internet feed, you really have to actually travel.
There are other, more recent and more fitting examples you could choose if you want to use a specific politician.
You could also have used research that shows that people in general support or reject policies based on what party they think came up with them and not based on the (sometimes quite obvious ahead of time) consequences of those policies.
Trump instead lowered taxes for the rich. He was one of the rich, and he served himself. It was his rhetoric and dramatic conversational style that essentially caused people to unknowingly vote against their self interest.
I apologize for using the word "stupid" here. People and voters aren't stupid. Trump, however, was indeed an example of people not using the best strategy in the name of their self interest.
In democracies voters can fix their mistakes without risking their life and freedom.
They understood that building cheap and in great numbers is the key to success. They did this with the J-7 and now the J-10.
Just because a country is a democracy does not mean it will be a reliable trading partner. Democracies can easily swing from free market to protectionist trade policies -- and back. Outsourcing a very large fraction of all manufacturing for half the world to any single country is an incredibly risky idea.