US-China: The end of engagement

The current trade war between the United States and China under the second Trump presidency has sent the bilateral and global order into a whirlwind.

- GUNJAN SINGH

The complexity of this relationship can be gauged from the fact that even though Donald Trump is pushing for increased tariffs and barriers, he still promotes the idea of the G2. The ebbs and flow in this relationship is not limited to the bilateral; it has major regional and geopolitical repercussions. As David Shambaugh writes in Breaking the Engagement: How China Won & Lost America , the US-China relationship has witnessed, cycles of engagement-estrangement-reengagement”. While “neither side is blameless” the “narrowing of the power gap has definitely affected this dynamics”. According to the author, “engagement’is finally over.

‘This book attempts to track the contours of the relationship against this backdrop. But the author cautions that it is “principally a study of US foreign policy and the American side of the US-China relationship”. Drawing on a wide array of sources from the US government and private sector as well as “never before examined” Chinese language sources, the book offers a nuanced and detailed analysis of one of the most consequential relationships of our times.