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Title The Politics of US-China Trade Relationship, 20120202: Dynamics and Prospects

Author(s) Sitara Hafeez

Abstract ABSTRACT Thesis Topic: The Politics of US-China Trade Relationship, 2012-2020: Dynamics and Prospects This is a qualitative research analyzing the politics of US-China trade relationship by focusing on presidencies of Obama and Trump era. This is very normal for two countries to have trade relation with each other, but U.S-China trade relations cannot be considered a normal phenomenon. Because the U.S has gained the status of sole superpower and leading global economy, whereas China, being the 2nd largest global economy, is an emerging superpower and trying to surpass the U.S. There are many unresolved issues regarding bilateral trade between the U.S and China. The debate in regards to trade issues between these two countries traces all the way back to a period before Donald Trump had ever considered running for president of the United States. China has been repeatedly challenged under the Obama presidency. But at that time the way to solve these trade dispute issues was very different from now. Former president Obama has backed the Multilateral Trade Agreement, which includes new guidelines on government agency laws, currency manipulation issues, and new environmental and labor standards. But the strategy used by Trump, was totally opposite, he launched a trade war against China in early 2018. This put China and US in an unending tariff threat. The US-China trade dispute has raised worldwide worries that a trade war between the world's two biggest economies would have major ramifications for the global economy. This study proposes using a neoclassical realism framework to analyze trade strategy of President Trump vis-a-vis China in order to best clarify the US–China trade conflicts beginning around 2018. It contends that trade strategy of Trump vis a vis China is, on a very basic level, motivated by the increasingly competitive relation of both countries, which is affected by Trump's impression of China as US's primary strategic competitor and worry about the US trade imbalance, and reinforced by the midterm election considerations. According to the neoclassical realist interpretation, the trade friction buried in the geopolitical competition between the two nations is probably going to persist for a long period.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Social Sciences

Department International Relations

Language English

Publication Date 2022-09-28

Subject International Relations

Publisher NA

Contributor(s) NA

Format 16th Edition Chicago

Identifier NA

Source NA

Relation NA

Coverage NA

Rights NA

Category NA

Description