In the 1970s, long before “Made in China” became inescapable, a series of seemingly small diplomatic and trade decisions quietly rewrote the global economic order. What began as symbolic textile imports and geopolitical chess moves ended up hollowing out American manufacturing, lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty, and creating the interdependent yet tense superpower rivalry we live with today.

Elizabeth O'Brien Ingleson is a historian specializing in the histories of capitalism, US-China relations, and US foreign relations. She is also an Associate Professor at the International History Department at the London School of Economics, co-organizer of the LSE-Tufts Seminar in Contemporary International History, and Author of Made in China: When US-China Interests Converged to Transform Global Trade.

Website - elizabethingleson.com

Made in China - harvard.edu

10/21/2025