The current trade war will do little to curb China’s economic development. It masks deeper unease in the US about threats to American hegemony of an increasingly multi-polar world. Yet both countries stand to gain from continued cooperation. The escalating trade war, driven by an outdated mindset of American exceptionalism, will do more harm than good.

This will be the tenth year that I have taught a course at Yale called “The Next China.” The course focuses on modern China’s daunting economic transitions. It frames the moving target that eludes US President Donald Trump’s administration, which is taking dead aim at the Old China (a convenient target for a leader who wants to resurrect Old America). The incoherence of Trump’s trade and economic policies, with all their potentially grave consequences for the global economy, is a destabilizing byproduct of this disconnect.

At President Xi Jinping’s invitation, President Duterte of the Philippines will visit China this month, as relations warm between the two countries. While opposition voices in the Philippines warn of undue Chinese influence, the visit offers both leaders an opportunity to continue to promote economic cooperation, stability and peace.

From trade tension between South Korea and Japan to China’s positive outlook, the topics discussed at the most recent ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting spanned a variety of affairs. With the growing importance of the ASEAN region in global politics, it is important to analyze and understand the group’s discussions.

Trade talks between China and the United State have morphed beyond trade disputes, the solutions require the political will from the highest level. While working for a positive outcome, both parties should be prepared for a “no deal” scenario. The window of opportunities is closing.

Zhao Minghao, in an analysis of the most recent strategic moves made by the Trump administration regarding trade with China, declares that an escalation of the trade war will be detrimental to both nations, with a strong impact on the average American consumer with the potential for a quickly approaching recession. In pointing out that not only are Trump’s decisions made with strong American opposition but are also done so arbitrarily and counter to the judgements made by global organizations like the IMF, Zhao cautions that a trade deal is not the end goal — rather, Trump desires a decoupling of the two nations’ economies.

Over the next decade, new perspectives on sovereignty, human rights, and intellectual property will revise current legal norms. We are not in a ‘Cold War,’ but Beijing is courting US allies away from liberal democracy with investment, as globalization and its growing pains prove unpopular and spread populist politics across the globe.

Though many negative beliefs continue to circulate widely within the American media and the American government, Shen Yamei makes clear that these fallacies are unfounded by analyzing relevant literature, key moments in US history and American foreign policy strategy. She argues that, China will not bend to American narratives, and only when the US starts to realize it, can it begin to reverse course and decide to put its China policy back on the right track.

Drawing upon the past 70 years of Chinese global engagement, Vice-Minister He shines light on how multilateralism has benefited the Chinese nation as well as how China has played an important role — and can continue to play such a role — in the success of this ideology across the world. With the chaos brought by the new US regime and the rise of global populism, He emphasizes the need for China as an emerging power to support and help maintain multilateralism domestically and internationally.

The negative consequences of U.S. involvement with Mekong countries are real but limited. The U.S. has the potential to continue to fuel tension over issues such as water resources in the region.