Today the focus is on US/EU relations and China in the Biden era. Both share a major problem – how to contain China.
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US/EU will co-ordinate on screening foreign investments + improving intelligence sharing on commercial threats but things become difficult on trade issues with Europeans shying away from too much confrontation with Beijing, a big export partner for countries such as Germany.
Another problem facing both sides is the leadership and functioning of the WTO which needs a new director-general (will it be Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala?) Finally, there is the decades-long Airbus/Boeing dispute. While the US and Europe have been busy squabbling over subsidies, issuing tariffs + counter tariffs against cheese, wine, whiskey and everything in between, China has developed its own aircraft manufacturing capabilities through the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation.
Mao Tsetung always focused on the theory of contradictions. There are many emerging as China’s growth challenges established structures and trade patterns.
