This article examines how Wilsonian foreign policy tradition has shaped the postwar US One China policy, and how Jacksonianism, championed by the Donald Trump administration, challenges that vision. Embracing militant nationalism, commercial mercantilism, and unilateralist diplomacy, Trump’s commitment to “One China” will more likely be conditional on Sino–American transactional interchanges.

The PRC’s increasingly assertive foreign policy behaviors have triggered heightened anxiety among its regional neighbors. Washington has abided by a long-standing strategic ambiguity policy to manage the Taiwan Strait impasse. However, as the KMT’s “1992 consensus” policy places Taiwan in close union with Beijing, Taipei’s security positions sometimes go against the interests of the US and its allies in the Asia-Pacific. Pulling Taiwan away from China’s orbit is congruent with US interest in continuing that enduring policy framework and ensuring a healthy balance across the Strait.