CAI Cui-hong &YU Da-hao，Politics through the Mind：An International Political Psychology Analysis of Trump's China Policy，Northeast Asia Forum，No.3，2026，pp.64-81.
Abstract：U.S. policy toward China under the Trump administration displayed pronounced features of irrationality and abrupt shifts. Drawing on the perspective of international political psychology ，this article constructs a cognition-emotion-decision chain model to explain how leaders' psychological mechanisms shape policy formation. Trump's policy preferences toward China stemmed from his distinctive cognitive structure. As domestic and international pressures accumulated ，existing cognitive biases were further amplified by emotional reactions and reinforced through the decision-making processes of the executive system. These dynamics ultimately manifested in high-intensity and high-risk policies ，including the trade war and the technology war with China. The proposed chain model suggests that the radicalization of U.S. China policy during the Trump era cannot be explained solely by structural competition ，but also resulted from the deep involvement of leadership psychology. Understanding the trajectory of Trump's perceptions and emotions regarding China provides an important lens for examining the psychological cleavages in contemporary U. S. politics. More importantly ，identifying how these psychological mechanisms are translated into state policy is crucial for assessing whether China-U.S. relations can move toward more rational competition ，effective crisis management ，and renewed cooperation.
Key Words：International Political Psychology ；Trump's China Policy ；Psychological Chain of Policymaking ；Trade War；Technology War
