Trade, Tech and Taiwan: Crafting a transatlantic China agenda
agv
Thu, 12/05/2024 – 02:02
5 minutes
The contours of the new US China policy …
President-elect Donald Trump wants to break with Biden-era policies in most fields, but not necessarily on China. His aides proudly claim that President Biden’s approach is a continuation of Trump’s first-term hawkish policy. The incoming president himself is famous for his erratic policymaking style. But he also holds two contradictory convictions that shape his thinking on China. In other words, given competing impulses and potentially conflicting views among his aides, Trump has yet to formulate a clear China policy.
On the one hand, Trump’s deep scepticism of alliances may lead him to treat China like any other country. Trump could be inclined to act pragmatically and seek a top-down understanding in leader-to-leader exchanges with China’s President Xi Jinping. For example, on the campaign trail, Trump took a transactional approach to the conflict over Taiwan. Such a policy could involve striving for another ‘China deal’ following the ‘Phase One deal’ that Trump …read more
