Western intelligence agencies predicted that China would overtake the United States as the world’s leading economy. These fears exacerbated growing concerns about China’s rise as a trade juggernaut: According to one study, China’s entry into the WTO cost the United States 2.4 million jobs as multinational corporations shifted labor-intensive manufacturing activities to China.55 Beijing was now a potent economic rival, which made it a target of anger as America and other countries entered harder times.
