Title: The US-China economic relationship: A comprehensive approach
Headings: Get daily updates from Brookings
The US-China economic relationship: A comprehensive approach
Executive Summary
Joshua P. Meltzer
Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development
Neena Shenai
Visiting scholar - American Enterprise Institute
The state of the bilateral economic relationship
Why China’s economic model matters
The impact on the WTO
Making progress in US-China economic relations
Bilateral negotiations
The role for the WTO
Work with US allies
Unilateral US action

Content: From this perspective, we outline a multipronged strategy, including bilateral, multilateral, and unilateral actions, as well as working with allies, that together would constitute positive next steps for this critical economic relationship. In taking this multifaceted approach, the U.S. also needs to stay true to its values and not accept short-term gains or “fig leaf” deals. In particular, creating a managed trade relationship with China would not be a constructive outcome. The resulting deal should address the real issues at hand in a free market manner and strengthen the multilateral global trading system and rule of law that the U.S. has championed in the post-World War II era. All of these matters underscore the complexity of U.S.-China bilateral negotiations as well as the stakes at play. Resolving U.S.-China differences in a meaningful way will take time. The state of the bilateral economic relationship
In order to assess what might constitute a sustainable economic relationship going forward, it is important to be clear about the costs and benefits of U.S. trade and investment with China. The U.S.-China economic relationship delivers more benefits to the U.S. than is commonly understood. For example, recent data shows that U.S. exports to China support around 1.8 million jobs in sectors such as services, agriculture, and capital goods. [ 1 ] However, trade with China has also led to job destruction in some U.S. industries—particularly low wage manufacturing.