While US postwar policies in Asia are shifting, a new Sino-US historical opportunity has emerged. US and Chinese visions of globalization could still prove complementary.
President Trump’s grueling 12-day Asia tour took place amid a worrisome historical moment. Since the mid-2010s, global economic integration – as measured by trade, investment and migration – has come to a standstill. Trade has been falling. Investment continues to stagnate. And slower migration has given rise to elevated global displacement and refugee crises – the worst since 1945.
After Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam, Trump attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, followed by the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN in Manila.
It was the two leaders’ speeches in the Vietnam that seemed to leave room for an emerging opportunity – a new kind of globalization.
Competing views – only part of the story
In a defiant address, President Trump told the APEC meeting that the US would no longer tolerate “chronic trade abuses.” In turn, President Xi announced that globalization was irreversible.
In his speech, Trump complained about trade imbalances, arguing that America had lowered market barriers and ended tariffs, whereas other countries had not responded in kind. “Such practices hurt many people in our country,” he lamented.
Trump believed that those Bretton Woods multilateral organizations that America had created in the postwar era have become dysfunctional. So he railed against the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sets global trade laws, claiming that it “cannot function properly” if all members do not respect the rules.
Speaking right after his US counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a strong address about the benefits world trade. Unlike Trump, Xi defended multilateral trade deals, which can help poorer nations to benefit: “”We should support the multilateral trading regime and practice open regionalism to allow developing members to benefit more from international trade and investment.”
