U S.-China Relations in 2021 Hit a Nadir

The review claims to learn metatrader 4 have found that the Section 301 tariffs have been “effective in encouraging the PRC to take steps toward eliminating some of its technology transfer-related acts, policies, and practices” while reducing exposure to US individuals and businesses to these actions. It also found that the tariffs have had a “small negative impact” on the US economy, while they have positively impacted production in 10 sectors most directly affected by the tariffs. In a statement issued today, the US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said that “further action” was needed to counter what it says are unfair trade practices by China in addition to the existing Section 301 Tariffs. Additionally, Secretary Austin raised concerns over stability across the Taiwan Strait but reaffirmed the US’s commitment to the One China Policy. However, he also “made clear that the United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate — safely and responsibly — wherever international law allows”, and that freedom of navigation under international law should continue to be respected.

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  • The United States could lower regional tensions by reducing the frequency of these politically provocative actions.
  • Companies may determine that it is prudent to diversify and invest in and develop relationships with other countries, even if that comes at a higher up-front cost.
  • From a broader geopolitical perspective, with the need to secure its energy imports, China is also expected to increase its footprint in the region and influence the mentioned challenges.
  • A change in narratives will help move past the hostility that has prevented the two sides from working together more productively.

The conclusion of the meetings coincided with the release by the MEE of a Methane Emissions Control Action Plan, a potential move to lay the groundwork for further discussions on methane reduction at COP28. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has confirmed in a brief statement that President Xi Jinping will attend the APEC Summit in San Francisco from November 14 to 17, during which he will hold a meeting with President Joe Biden. He will also attend the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Informal Dialogue, which will take place on November 16. The meetings between He and Yellen are an important stepping stone to the much-anticipated meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden on Wednesday, November 15, during the APEC Summit in San Francisco. President Biden reportedly secured China’s agreement to resume military-to-military talks during his meeting with President Xi Jinping in November.

But by more fully rejecting the entirety of the old model of globalization—and reorienting its foreign policy strategy away from targeting only China—the Trump administration has created an opportunity to establish a new basis for improved relations. But the U.S.-China trade relationship has only grown more combative over the past decades as U.S. policymakers have charted a progressively more assertive course as China has failed to comply PDF with many of the WTO rules. The George W. Bush administration, responding to calls from U.S. companies for better protections, imposed some tariffs on a range of Chinese goods that were subsidized or “dumped” (i.e., sold at an abnormally low price). In 1979, the United States and China normalized relations as Chinese policymakers aimed to boost international trade and investment under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, and in 1986, Beijing applied to rejoin the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO’s predecessor. After protracted negotiations with the United States and other WTO members, China joined the organization in December 2001, under the condition Beijing commit to a sweeping set of economic reforms, including steep tariff cuts for imported goods, protections for IP, and transparency around its laws and regulations.

US-China Relations in the Biden Era: A Timeline

The meetings follow a string of encounters between Chinese and US officials in recent months, and are a further sign that the two countries are sincerely abiding by the consensus reached between President Xi and President Biden to improve communication in their meeting in Bali in November 2022. Meetings between Chinese and US officials have become increasingly frequent over the past few months as both sides seek to find common ground on important issues. These meetings may also lay the groundwork for potential meetings between President Biden and President Xi, which could take place at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November, a year after their last meeting in Bali. In a statement responding to the news, China’s Ministry of Commerce called the move a “typical act of economic coercion and unilateral bullying” and called on the US to “immediately correct its wrong practices and stop its unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies”.

Misinterpretation of each other’s signaling may contribute to a bilateral action-reaction dynamic and can intensify into an action-reaction cycle and escalation spiral. The Trump administration could reassure Beijing of its position on the island’s future by formally opposing Taiwanese independence. In response, Beijing could reduce the frequency of military exercises and increase cross-strait exchanges. If leaders in Beijing believe there is hope for peaceful reunification, there is less urgency to use military force to resolve the question of Taiwan’s status.

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  • The same day, Biden’s aides, including the nominee for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the nominee for Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, indicated that the president planned to take a multilateral approach by enlisting the support of Western allies to maximize Washington’s leverage on Beijing.
  • China’s human rights abuses, especially in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, border aggressiveness, and “wolf warrior” diplomacy, combined with the Trump administration’s legacy and the ongoing pandemic, have left bilateral relations at a nadir.
  • The fact that it has now instead chosen to increase tariffs reflects how the trade relationship between China and the US has evolved in the last two years despite improvements in diplomatic dialogue, as well as the increasingly elevated position of renewables and high-end technologies as a consideration in national security.
  • Wang also held two rounds of meetings with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which “Both sides agreed to work together to achieve a meeting between the two heads of state in San Francisco”, per the Foreign Ministry.
  • Despite the signing of the Montana bill, critics have stated that the ban will be difficult to enforce.

As Trump and Xi head to the negotiating table, the conditions are ripe for an inflection point in U.S.-Chinese relations that could set a path toward a more stable and effective relationship. Many Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed back on liberal internationalism and have instead embraced industrial policy and economic nationalism. Neither the United States nor China now accepts economic efficiency as a justification for dependence on the other side’s financial systems, critical goods, and advanced technologies. With these new trends in the Middle East, it is timely to investigate the security implications of the Biden administration’s Middle East policy. In this respect, we will discuss the Biden team’s new approach vis-à-vis Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

China is the United States’ third largest trading partner after neighbors Mexico and Canada, and the United States’ primary supplier of imports. From China’s perspective, the United States is China’s largest trading partner and largest purchaser of Chinese exports. U.S. consumers have benefited from lower prices, and U.S. companies have profited immensely from access to China’s market. In a 2019 study, economists Xavier Jaravel and Erick Sager found that increased trade with China boosted the annual purchasing power of the average U.S. household by $1,500 between 2000 and 2007. A 2023 report by the U.S.-China Business Council, an industry group, found that exports to China supported more than one million jobs in the United States, or about 0.5 percent of the civilian labor force.

Senior officials from the US Department of the Treasury and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) convened in Shanghai for the fifth meeting of the Financial Working Group (FWG) on August 15-16, 2024. The FWG, established by US Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in September 2023, is a key forum for ongoing financial dialogue between the two nations. In addition, the two sides also reconfirmed collaboration on efforts to ban illegal imports as part of their commitment order to advance efforts to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, as well as promote global forest conservation and sustainable management. According to a readout from the US State Department, the two sides reaffirmed their intention to hold a Methane and Other Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases Summit at COP 29, which will be held in November, along with the COP 29 hosts Azerbaijan.

How to Move Past Strategic Competition

U.S. officials also fear that China’s acquisition of sensitive U.S. technology will bolster China’s military. U.S. firms and officials have long accused Chinese companies of stealing intellectual property to develop counterfeit products, pirated software, access trade secrets, and forced technology transfer on condition of doing business in China. One of the most recent estimates by the independent policy think tank National Bureau of Asian Research in 2017 found that the annual cost of Chinese IP theft is between $225 and $600 billion PDF. Under China’s state-led economic system, government policies often require firms to transfer technology and other capabilities in exchange for operating in China. Although China’s IP laws have improved over the past decade, theft is still prevalent, even among Chinese firms that have appropriated capabilities domestically. China agreed to postpone by a year its recent export controls on rare earth minerals, which are used for magnets in most electric technologies.

Is there a trade war between the United States and China?

The announcement also states that the visit follows the directive of President Joe Biden to deepen communication with China, a commitment he reached with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their last meeting at the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia in November 2022. These visits have been seen as a concerted effort to make breakthroughs and find common ground in the relationship, which had until recently been deteriorating further. Given that Kissinger is no longer a serving official in the US, these meetings are largely symbolic and can be partly seen as an effort by Kissinger to solidify his diplomatic legacy. Nonetheless, he is also representative of China’s ideal diplomatic engagement with the US, while the meetings serve to highlight how much attitudes in Washington toward China have changed in the past decade. However, President Xi also noted that “China and the US are once again at a crossroads” and that “China is willing to discuss how the two countries can get along correctly with the US and promote the steady development of Chia-US relations”.

Relations between the world’s two largest economic powers are at historic lows.

Many experts say escalations have not subsided since 2018, when Trump imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods. At the time, the president claimed the levies would decrease the U.S. trade deficit with China, bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States, and force China to reform its trade practices, including intellectual property (IP) theft. This economic reality “underscores the futility of decoupling efforts” by Washington and Beijing, CFR Senior Fellow for China Studies Zongyuan Zoe Liu writes, and policymakers have demonstrated greater concern over the intertwined trade relationship in recent decades.

The US has placed a dozen more Chinese entities on the Commerce Department’s blacklist, known as the Entity List, citing national security and foreign policy concerns. In a speech on Tuesday, May 10, President Joe Biden stated that he would consider removing tariffs on Chinese goods in an effort to reduce the price of goods in the US. The statement comes a week after the US Trade Representative initiated a statutory procedure to review US tariffs on Chinese goods in the lead-up to the four-year anniversary of the tariffs being implemented.

This arrangement aligns with Trump’s global vision of trying to broker peace in areas of long-standing conflict. While the United States continues to pull back from certain regional conflicts, reflected by the Biden administration’s decision to halt American backing for Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen and the expected withdrawal from Afghanistan, US troops continue to be stationed across the region. On one hand, the Kremlin has maintained its military presence in Syria, and on the other hand, China has signed an unprecedented 25-year strategic agreement with Iran. On the other hand, with international terrorist networks and intense regional rivalry in the Middle East, it is impractical to discuss peace and security without addressing terrorism and the arms race in the region. This panel will primarily discuss the implications of the ongoing arms race in the region and the role of Western powers and multilateral organizations in facilitating trust-building security arrangements among regional stakeholders to limit the proliferation of arms across the Middle East. Tensions over Taiwan have also come to the fore, with China’s language and actions increasingly aggressive and the United States signaling a willingness to defend the island.

The announcement does not mention targeted export restrictions to any country in particular, however, it has been widely seen as retaliation for the US’ export controls of key semiconductor technology. In October 2022, the US Department of Commerce implemented new export controls on advanced computing and semiconductors, requiring companies to receive a license to export US-made advanced computing and semiconductor products to China. The readouts from the White House and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) repeated familiar talking points from recent meetings between US and Chinese officials.

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