From Economic Cooperation to Strategic Competition : Understanding the US-China Trade Disputes Through the Transformed Relations

Wang, Zhaohui and Zeng, Jinghan (2020) From Economic Cooperation to Strategic Competition : Understanding the US-China Trade Disputes Through the Transformed Relations. Journal of Chinese Political Science, 25. 49–69.

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Abstract

This article investigates the escalation of US-China trade disputes and the implications for Sino-US relations. Both structural realism and liberal institutionalism have failed to pay sufficient attention to the evolution of the US-China economic relationship, and this article strives to highlight this crucial issue. The article employs a historical perspective to examine the transformation of US-China economic relations in the twenty-first century. It argues that the US-China economic relationship is evolving from a symbiotic but asymmetric one between 2001 and 2008, toward an increasingly competitive one after the 2008 global financial crisis, especially in the Trump-Xi era. The changing dynamics of US-China economic relations, as well as the shifting perceptions of the top leadership of each country toward the other, create the impetus for the transformation of Sino-US relations. This article suggests that the recent trade tension is embedded in the growing strategic competition between the two countries.