This week on Sinica, I chat with economic historian Andrew B. Liu of Villanova University about how to understand Trump's thinking on China and tariffs. Andy wrote about this in an excellent piece on N+1 called "Back to the 80s? Trump, Xi Jinping, and Tariffs." Check it out and then listen to the show!

3:59 – How the U.S.’s current trade anxieties echo those of the ‘80s

9:34 – How Cold War geopolitics shaped U.S.-Japan trade relations

18:23 – The lessons China learned from Japan’s experience and how it has shaped its recent economic strategy 

21:03 – What Xi Jinping’s vision for the Chinese economy actually looks like 

34:26 – Why China is favoring a more Ford-like model of industrial structure

41:28 – Michael Pettis’s ideas from Trade Wars Are Class Wars and points of critique 

52:44 – The Trump administration’s use of tariffs

Paying It Forward: Viola Zhou’s reporting on Rest of World (especially her piece on Foxconn in India) and Dong Yige 

Recommendations:

Andrew: Hetty Lui McKinnon’s Substack for vegan modern Cantonese recipes 

Kaiser: The Substack of the Carter Center’s U.S.-China Perception Monitor; and the essay “The new frontline: The US-China battle for control of global networks” on the Transnational Institute website

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