TY - JOUR

T1 - From Economic Cooperation to Strategic Competition

T2 - Understanding the US-China Trade Disputes Through the Transformed Relations

AU - Wang, Zhaohui

AU - Zeng, Jinghan

N1 - The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11366-020-09652-0

PY - 2020/3/1

Y1 - 2020/3/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.1007/s11366-020-09652-0

DO - 10.1007/s11366-020-09652-0

M3 - Journal article

VL - 25

SP - 49

EP - 69

JO - Journal of Chinese Political Science

JF - Journal of Chinese Political Science

ER -