Now that China is a major economic power, the West’s interactions with it are more complicated than simple calculations of the gains from trade. It was once thought and sometimes still hoped that trade and economic growth will induce China to liberalize its political system, but such has not been the case. If anything, China’s economic weight seems to induce the West to accept China’s economic and political system for fear of disrupting the status quo. The result is new political pressures in the West that can undermine cherished freedoms and liberal institutions.