Dollars or Pence? Choosing a framework for US-China trade

In his recent Wilson Center speech, Vice-President Pence argued that US trade policy towards China must now be built upon the premise that China is a “strategic and economic rival”. This change in perspective has naturally led the US to rethink its current trade policy with China, and this rethinking has in turn put the US and China on their current path towards a trade war and economic decoupling. At this crucial juncture, an exceptionally distinguished group of Western and Chinese academics formed the US-China Trade Policy Working Group (TPWG) to devise a policy framework that would prevent this trade war. Yet, the TPWG framework accomplishes this goal only by taking a narrowly economic focus that banishes the strategic perspective that makes the trade war necessary from the discussion. So, while conceiving of US-China trade policy as the TPWG suggests would certainly advance China’s strategic ambitions, doing so would be a disaster for the US. It follows that the Trump administration’s framework for US-China trade is by far the better choice.