The Trump administration’s senior economic team just wrapped up talks in Beijing to address rising U.S.–China tensions. These talks appear to have amounted largely to an exchange of views, with China, unsurprisingly, evincing little willingness to immediately address the bilateral trade deficit with the United States or curb its mercantilist economic approach.
The bottom line: The inconclusive results should not obscure a new direction in U.S. relations with China: disengagement.
In retrospect, the end of the Obama administration may represent the high-water mark of U.S.-China ties.
The Trump administration has now begun the process of disengaging from Beijing — rightly convinced that China has structured relations with the U.S. to advance its position in a competition for wealth, power and influence. Beyond the announced tariffs, this approach includes the following:
What's next: Unwinding the U.S. relationship with China will not prove easy. The Trump administration will need to coordinate closely with key American stakeholders — above all, the business community and universities. Otherwise, it will encounter potentially insurmountable resistance.
Daniel Kliman is a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.
