Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Minxin Pei | President Trump has made his feelings about US competition with China plain; one of the early acts of his second presidential term has been to place tariffs on Chinese imports. China has since responded with its own tariffs on certain US goods and restrictions on the import of important minerals.

 

To talk about US-China relations with the return of Donald Trump, in February 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Minxin Pei, the Tom and Margot Pritzker '72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. They also spoke about China’s surveillance state and the concept of preventative repression, and how China might respond to US escalation on trade.

 

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

 

Further reading and resources

The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism (Princeton University Press, December 2025) - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691223339/the-broken-china-dream?srsltid=AfmBOorqgNLSfzJ7BEaYcMHm84uw9p003wJRq7nmU1j9izI-l17v3vAn