As the worst trade war since WWII enters its fourth year, it is worth stepping back to survey the overall trajectory of the U.S.-China trade dispute.

There is a global shift towards a new economic philosophy, which both Washington and Beijing are grappling with. Open understanding of both economies could help the two countries establish the foundation for cooperation.

Most countries agree that data security touches on national security, and increased wrangling over data sovereignty is the new normal. Given the lack of trust between China and the United States, data security will inevitably become a new playing field in bilateral competition.

The U.S. and China conduct hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade with each other, yet they remain at odds in the political arena. Although each government can claim their grievances, business operators have more to gain with more open communication.

The measures have dismally failed to meet the objectives of the Trump administration, and Biden should lift them immediately. Doing so, with China following suit, will usher in a new period of robust expansion that supports economic recovery on both sides of the Pacific.

Heightened US-China tensions have raised the prospect of a deep global technology divide, potentially forcing other countries to choose which camp to join. There are plenty of grim scenarios involving irreconcilable splits between core technologies that power a wide range of products and services, from aircraft and automobiles to precision engineering for robotics and payment systems for e-commerce. Should these scenarios materialize, the world’s two largest economies will pour huge amounts of resources into a zero-sum race to control the cutting edge.

The Biden administration is considering a digital trade agreement with countries in the Indo-Pacific in an effort to check China's influence in the region.

There is just one conclusion to be drawn from the geopolitical confusion created by Washington’s maximum confrontation policy: Rather than war, China and America are actually destined for peace. This is the true mega trend in bilateral relations.

The road for Washington and Beijing will continue to be treacherous. Biden’s geopolitical objectives on trade do not portend glorious days of sunshine, but thunderstorms. The trade war is not on its way out but will likely rise again in a different form.

A trove of HSBC material consisting of more than 300 pages of emails and documents from HSBC have been revealed recently. It is part of a long-running extradition battle over Ms Meng Wan Zhou, the CFO of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.