The US-China Podcast

For decades, China's rapid economic rise has drawn Western businesses eager to tap its vast market — but that bilateral trade relationship is now under severe strain. Escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing are threatening global commerce and forcing businesses to fundamentally rethink their China strategies.

In this conversation, National Committee President Steve Orlins interviews Ker Gibbs, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai during the Obama, first Trump, and Biden administrations, about his new book, The Fragile Dragon: Trade, Trump, and China's Vulnerabilities. Drawing on unparalleled access to leaders on both sides of the Pacific, Gibbs examines why U.S.-China tensions have reached a breaking point and what it means for global stability. He also offers practical guidance for businesses navigating the narrow corridor between what China wants and what the United States will allow — and how to structure for resilience as the relationship grows increasingly fragile.

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Clinical trials are an essential part of developing new medicines and treatments. In recent years, China has become an increasingly important center for clinical research and drug development.

On September 22, 2026, Dr. Amy Abernethy, cofounder of Highlander Health and former principal deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Ruby Wang of LINTRIS discussed the differences between U.S. and Chinese approaches to clinical trials, including the tradeoffs between speed, safety, and research quality. How is China's growing role in drug development changing the global pharmaceutical landscape? Might the United States and China work together on clinical research?

This conversation builds on discussions at the National Committee's 2026 U.S.-China Track II Dialogue on Healthcare, held in Hangzhou, during which American and Chinese experts shared thoughts on the accelerating pace of biomedical innovation in China and opportunities to maintain cooperation in healthcare despite tensions in the bilateral relationship.

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Chinese public opinion is often overlooked in discussions of U.S.-China competition, yet it shapes how Beijing defines threats, prioritizes interests, and calibrates its foreign policy. As tensions span trade, technology, Taiwan, and regional security, understanding how Chinese citizens view these issues offers critical insight into both domestic constraints and external behavior.

In this interview recorded on March 31, 2026, Nick Zeller, Renard Sexton, and Yawei Liu discuss findings from China Pulse, a joint survey project by The Carter Center and Emory University. They examine Chinese attitudes toward the United States as a security threat, expectations around the trade conflict, views on Taiwan, and perspectives on China's role in key regional relationships, and what these trends reveal about the trajectory of U.S.-China relations.

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At the beginning of the current decade, views of China were near historic lows in many countries. Recently, however, positive opinions of China have become more widespread, as measured in a recent Pew Research Center survey, and more people now have confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Still, in most of the 37 countries surveyed, and particularly in some of the wealthier ones, views of Xi remain more negative than positive. Views of China are also more positive in Latin America, Africa and parts of South and Southeast Asia than in wealthier European and East Asian countries. Anxieties about China persist, including concerns about its government's respect for personal freedoms, the possibility of territorial conflict with its neighbors, and interference in the affairs of other countries.

In an interview conducted on August 7, 2026, Pew Research Center Associate Director Laura Silver joins Steve Orlins to discuss changes in global perceptions of China over the past few years.

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The strategic landscape of the Korean Peninsula is shifting. President Trump's recent reduction in military exercises with Seoul and his olive branch to Pyongyang raise new questions regarding the future of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, especially as North Korea deepens its military partnership with Russia. Meanwhile, denuclearization, previously a common goal of Washington and Beijing, grows increasingly uncertain as the two countries' priorities diverge. This conversation examines whether the United States and China still share a policy toward North Korea, how changes in Pyongyang's foreign policy are reshaping the region, and what a transforming U.S.-South Korea alliance means for Seoul.

On August 25, 2026, Jonathan Corrado of the Korea Society spoke with Victor Cha and Susan Thornton to discuss the U.S. and China's diverging policies toward North Korea and who will manage the next crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

About the program: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/do-the-us-and-china-still-share-a-north-korea-policy/

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a major military campaign against Iran, resulting in the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The campaign triggered a rapidly evolving crisis across the Middle East, disrupting energy markets, closing Gulf airspace and waterways, and sending geopolitical and diplomatic shockwaves through the region, including casting uncertainty over the anticipated Trump-Xi summit at the end of March.

In an event recorded on March 9, 2026, Yun Sun and Gedaliah Afterman, in conversation with Lincoln Hines, unpack how the Iran war is testing China's relationships across the Middle East, what Beijing's response reveals about the limits of its regional influence, and what a fundamentally reshaped Middle East, potentially including a post-Islamic Republic Iran, means for the broader trajectory of U.S.-China relations.

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How did an American teacher turn $5,000 into 50,000 trees in China, changing a desert into a forrest?

Ron Sakolsky joined us on September 8, 2026, to share his story.

From territorial disputes over uninhabited islands to the threat of military action in the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea is a tense environment. Japan, China, and the United States have strong economic and security interests in the region, positioning it to be a major geopolitical flashpoint if conflict breaks out. As politics in the area are further complicated by Russia-China military collaboration and dynamics on the Korean Peninsula, the need for open channels of communication to mitigate risk remains important. How can Japan, China, and the United States manage tensions in the East China Sea?

Sheila Smith joined us on August 7, 2026 to explain factors behind tension in the East China Sea and what Japan, China, and the United States can do to manage the situation peacefully.

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Trade between the EU and China account for almost 30% of global trade and 35% of global GDP, but the balance and structure of their trade relationship has changed in recent years. As China's exports moved up the value chain, the goods it sent to Europe started competing with products already manufactured in Europe, creating tension. However, it's difficult for the EU to confront and change its economic relationship with China since individual European nations feel trade frictions differently and economic relations with the United States are also under pressure. How will the EU move forward with China and the United States?

Agatha Kratz joined us on August 20, 2026 to share how the EU-China trade relationship is evolving and where it's headed.

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In Chinese Global Environmentalism, Alex L. Wang examines China's embrace of green development on the global stage. He traces Chinese global environmentalism's evolution and motivations and analyzes its deployment through the governance tools of green ideology, diplomacy, economic statecraft, and international development cooperation. He conceives of Chinese global environmentalism as a wide-ranging economic and political strategy used to unsettle traditional views of China and bolster the legitimacy of Chinese power at home and abroad. The author argues that Chinese global environmentalism, while not without its fits and starts, is enabling China to make inroads internationally with implications for China's rise and the natural environment that are only beginning to be appreciated.

In an interview conducted on June 4, 2026, Alex Wang joins Joanna Lewis to discuss China's role on the global stage when it comes to environmental development.

About the program: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/chinese-global-environmentalism/