[Foreign Correspondent’s Column] The ‘Superman’ U.S. and Its Weak Spot

The United States of America (U.S.) is undeniably the strongest power of the 21st century. In military strength, the economy, culture, sports, and society, there is no real rival to the U.S.
Start with the numbers. The U.S. spends about $900 billion a year on defense, accounting for roughly 37% of global military expenditures. That is nearly three times more than second-place China, at about $300 billion. Russia’s defense budget is only around $100 billion. The U.S. is, by any measure, the world’s number one military power.
The same is true for the size of its economy. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) exceeds $30 trillion, keeping it firmly in first place worldwide. China follows with about $19 trillion, while South Korea’s economy is around $1.8 trillion. Judging by military and economic power alone, no country seems capable of standing up to the U.S. The story is similar in culture and sports. Hollywood films take in about 70% of global box-office revenue. The world’s most valuable sports franchise is the National Football League (NFL) team the Dallas Cowboys, worth $13 billion, or about 19 trillion won.
Yet this seemingly invincible Superman has repeatedly suffered a loss of face. Strikingly, its counterparts in these episodes have all been authoritarian states.
China was the first to hit a weak spot. Last year, President Donald Trump slapped tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese-made products. Confident in U.S. economic might, he appeared sure that China would soon have to raise the white flag. But China played an unexpected card: rare-earth elements (REE). Beijing halted all REE exports. These 17 elements go into almost everything that underpins U.S. civilization—smartphones, fighter aircraft, electric vehicle batteries, advanced missiles, and more. China mines about 70% of the world’s REE and processes more than 90% of the REE mined globally. As U.S. industry went into panic, American negotiators formally demanded that China resume REE exports as a precondition for a “90-day tariff truce.” When China agreed to suspend its REE export controls, Washington in turn withdrew its plan to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods.
This time, the challenger is Iran. In the war triggered by joint U.S.-Israel airstrikes, Iran’s chosen weapon was crude oil. When Tehran effectively shut down the narrow sea lane through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, prices quickly soared well above $100 a barrel. A military that costs $900 billion a year can drop bombs, but it can no longer dictate how and when the war will end.
The common thread in these two cases is natural resources. With rare-earth elements and oil, both countries turned their resources into strategic weapons and struck directly at America’s weak point. Another similarity is that they are authoritarian regimes. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, has ruled China for 13 years. Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran who was killed in the latest U.S.-Israel attack, had ruled Iran with an iron fist for 37 years. Their decades-long grip on power is stronger and more solid than almost anything else. By contrast, leaders in the U.S. are chosen through elections. If they ignore public opinion, there is no guarantee of a next term. The U.S. faces a midterm election this November.
The very nature of democracy, with its built-in “time limits,” undermines strategic consistency. Tariffs, sanctions, and military actions are all designed within political calendars that demand short-term results. China and Iran, on the other hand, move on the assumption of a long war. Whether it is REE or oil, they can endure for months or years, waiting for their opponent to grow tired. In the end, the essence of the contest is shifting from total power to a question of “who can hold out longer.” As the November midterm election approaches, how long the U.S. can maintain a long-term perspective is becoming the real test of 21st-century hegemony.
This does not mean that authoritarianism is the answer. Xi Jinping’s extended rule papers over accumulated discontent and inefficiencies inside China, and Iran under Khamenei’s 37 years of iron-fisted rule has ultimately brought war upon itself. Dictatorship may seem advantageous in short-term tactics, but in the longer sweep of history it has always collapsed under its own weight. The real question is not whether to abandon democracy, but how democracy can move beyond the logic of short election cycles and embrace strategies with a longer time horizon.
pride@fnnews.com Reporter