China–US Trade Disputes in 2018 : An Overview

The paper provides an overview of changes in the US policy stance toward China that have resulted in the currently unstable economic and trade relationship between the two countries. It reviews the trade and economic relationship between China and the US during the first year of the Trump Administration, summarizes the systematic changes in trade and external economic policies adopted by the Trump Administration in general, and particularly toward China, and observes the implementation of a hawkish trade policy that ignited dispute between the US and China. The main factors shaping the current situation are examined, including structural difficulties in the US economy, the characteristics of the Chinese institutional setting and policies that have become increasingly unacceptable to the US, the specific personal beliefs and positions of President Trump and his main aides in the economic and trade team, and short‐term factors in the US internal political arena