Are We on the Verge of a Full-On Trade War With China?

On this week’s episode of The E.R., David Rothkopf, Rosa Brooks, and Colin Kahl take on the big questions of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s trip to Asia. With no clear policy or agenda to speak of, what is Tillerson and the Trump administration hoping to achieve? Now that economic nationalists and Sinophobes have a direct line to the Oval Office, (i.e. Peter Navarro and Wilbur Ross), can we really expect anything productive to come out of these meetings? China is undoubtedly America’s toughest economic competitor, but with an incompetent President Trump at the helm, what’s in store for the future of U.S. economic policy?

The conversation then turns to a broader look at the tilting world of geopolitics. How might regional shifts in power coupled with uncertain policies from the Trump administration change the economic landscape? It is obvious that we are on the verge of a major period of transition, but a lack of clarity and strategic focus make it a dangerous landscape for both the United States and international stability. Add to that the disruptive effects of technology, culture, artificial intelligence, and other relentless forces that pay little heed to politics, and it seems clear we’re being dragged into a new era. So what do we do until then?

Colin Kahl is a contributing editor to FP’s Shadow Government blog. He’s currently a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in the security studies program, and was previously the deputy assistant to President Barack Obama and national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. Follow him on Twitter at: @ColinKahl.

Rosa Brooks is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and teaches international law, national security, and constitutional law at Georgetown University. She is the author of the newly released book “How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything.” Follow her on Twitter at: @brooks_rosa.

David Rothkopf is the CEO and editor of the FP Group. Follow him on Twitter at: @djrothkopf.

Tune in, now twice a week, to FP’s The E.R.