United States | Policy brief

The next American president will be a China hawk

Donald Trump may seek to decouple America’s economy, while Kamala Harris favours more targeted pressure

Illustration of the Chinese dragon with red tassles under it. The head of the dragon is blue.
Illustration: Ben Hickey
|WASHINGTON, DC

ALTHOUGH BRITAIN still claims to have a “special relationship” with the United States, no country could contest China’s claim to have the most important one. America’s next president will have to take stewardship of the bilateral relationship at a time when mutual animosity and distrust are high. He or she will have to steer carefully to avoid fracturing the global economy or, much worse, plunging two of the world’s military superpowers into an armed conflict.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Choose your China hawk”

From the October 12th 2024 edition

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