WASHINGTON — Americans continue to have an unfavorable opinion of China, but for the first time in five years, their attitudes have softened somewhat, with a decline in the share of those who view it as an enemy of the United States, a survey by Washington-based Pew Research Center showed.
The survey, conducted amid escalating U.S.-China trade tensions, found more than half of all Americans say the tariff hikes will be more bad than good for the U.S. and for themselves, while a significant majority (75%) have little or no confidence that Chinese President Xi Jinping will do the right thing regarding international affairs.
According to the survey, which was released on Thursday, 77% of all Americans have an “unfavorable opinion” of China – down from 81% in 2024 in the first significant year-over-year decline recorded since 2017 – signaling an apparent softening in overall American sentiment towards China.
Within that, the share of Americans who have a “very unfavorable opinion” of the U.S.’s biggest geopolitical rival declined 10 percentage points to 33%.
The portion of Americans who see China as an “enemy” of the U.S. also decreased to 33%, from 42% a year earlier.
When asked an open-ended question on which country posed the greatest threat to the U.S., 42% of Americans named China. But that’s also down from 50% in 2023.
Americans are more likely to have negative views of China the older and more conservative they are, the survey results showed.
Older Americans are much more likely than younger adults to call China an enemy, with 47% of those aged 65 and older and 40% of those aged 50 to 64 holding this view, compared with 19% of those in the 18-29 age group.
In comparison, younger Americans are most likely to see China as a competitor, with 61% of adults under 30 saying this.
Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, attitudes toward China are softening even as they remained more critical of the country than Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents, the survey found.
The percentage of Republicans who have an “unfavorable opinion” of China fell 8 percentage points, to 82%, with a 16-percentage-point decline to 43% in those who have a “very unfavorable” view.
By comparison, 72% of Democrats have an unfavorable view, including 24% who hold a “very unfavorable” opinion, down from 30% in 2024.
The Pew survey was based on responses from 3,605 U.S. adults who were surveyed from March 24 to 30 using a random sampling of residential addresses with demographic weighting to represent the U.S. adult population.
View on tariff increases
Before the survey was fielded, U.S. President Donald Trump had imposed – in February and early March – tariffs totaling 20% on imports from China citing its role in fentanyl trade. China retaliated with tariffs on U.S. agricultural products and other measures.
Since then, in the escalating tit-for-tat tariff increases that have ensued, Trump has imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, while Beijing has responded with 125%.
The Pew survey data showed Americans remain skeptical about the effects of the increased tariffs on China, with 52% saying they will be bad for the U.S., and a similar share (53%) saying they will be bad for them personally too.
Only 24% of Americans think the increased tariffs will be good for the U.S. and just 10% say it’ll be good for them personally, the survey found.
And yet, 46% of Americans say trade between the world’s two largest economies benefits China more, according to the survey results.
Edited by Greg Barber
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA.