December 12, 2019
Beyond the Trade War
A Competitive Approach to Countering China
The verdict is in on U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with China. Regardless of whether U.S. negotiators soon reach a deal with Beijing, the administration’s initial gambit has run aground. After wreaking havoc on portions of the U.S. economy with his trade policies, the president is now angling to freeze or roll back tariffs on Chinese products in exchange for almost nothing. Deal or no deal in the coming days, it is clear that the United States needs a fundamentally different approach to economic competition with China—one that bolsters U.S. technological and financial power while countering Beijing’s malign activities directly.
Tariff hikes haven’t forced Beijing to capitulate. Chinese negotiators are reportedly making only vague commitments to assuage U.S. concerns about currency manipulation and intellectual property theft. They have refused outright to accept a much-needed enforcement mechanism on international trade practices or to make structural reforms to promote economic competition at home and abroad. At best, Beijing will restore agricultural purchases to pre–trade war levels, offering as its biggest concession something it wants to do anyway: let in more U.S. capital to balance China’s checkbook and reenergize sluggish growth.
Read the full article in Foreign Affairs.
Explore a series of recommendations for policymakers by Martijn Rasser, Elizabeth Rosenberg and Paul Scharre:
The China Challenge
The United States and China are strategic competitors, and technology is at the center of this competition, critical to economic strength and national security. The United Sta...
Read MoreMore from CNAS
-
Local Interests, Chinese Ambitions, and an Intelligent American Response
Commentary
Review of Daniel Markey, China’s Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020). In his book China’s Western Horizon: Be...
By Emily Jin
-
Sharper: The Future of U.S. Sanctions Policy
Commentary
Sanctions are increasingly common in U.S. foreign policy and economic statecraft. But they are not a cure-all....
By Kaleigh Thomas, Cole Stevens & Chris Estep
-
Shaping the Fourth Offset
Commentary
In pursuit of a Fourth Offset, export regulations may be radically reimagined to alter U.S. industry culture and commercial strategies....
By Theodore W. Kassinger
-
For Effective Controls, Build Coalitions
Commentary
As strategic concerns about China and its industrial policy become more widespread, opportunities to build coalitions are expanding....
By Martin Chorzempa
