If the US-China relationship unravels, so will the international order as we know it

Nobody wins a trade war. And China can agree to enough of what President Donald Trump seeks to enable a deal that he can be proud of – if it also marks the beginning of the negotiation of a high-ambition trade or investment agreement. But I also happen to believe that the underlying tensions will persist. That is because the problems we face, and our divergence of views, even in the economic area, are much broader. Unless these broader and deeper issues are addressed, we are in for a long winter in US-China relations.

Trade with China has hurt some American workers. And they have expressed their grievances at the ballot box. So, while many attribute this shift to the Trump administration, I do not. What we are now seeing will likely endure for some time within the American policy establishment. China is viewed – by a growing consensus – not just as a strategic challenge to the United States but as a country whose rise has come at America’s expense.

The United States played the decisive role in facilitating China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation. Yet 17 years after China entered the WTO, China still has not opened its economy to foreign competition in so many areas. Nearly 20 years after entering the WTO, this is simply unacceptable.