Despite recent divesting, China holds a dangerously high share of outstanding US Treasury bonds. Beijing should continue the reduction of these bonds, leaving Japan as the first biggest creditor for the US.

Singles' Day in China began as a clever counter to Valentine's Day. It takes place each year on Nov. 11, or 11/11, signifying four singles. Originally a celebration for young single people, Alibaba has turned it into a shopping bonanza since 2009. This year’s tally more than doubled what Americans spent online on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday combined. Additionally, shipping to rural areas will be at an all-time high. But, this record breaking shopping event, largely driven by marketing pressure, should not be misread as a signal that China’s economy is not stagnating.

The loss of momentum for the Trans-Pacific Partners agreement has diminished the US’ standing as a global power, and taken the wind out of the sails of President Obama’s Pivot to Asia strategy. The result is a brighter prospect for a more regional partnership and China’s push to establish a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

In today’s world trade, the production process — from product design, raw material procurement, financing, manufacturing, final assembly, marketing and logistics — normally stretches across many countries. Many products in international trade are known as “global products”. Globalization has produced huge cost-savings on industrial and consumer goods at every level, and any effort to restrict American businesses to sourcing and production in the US will shrink the domestic economy instead of expanding it.

In view of Washington and Brussels, much of China’s slowdown could be overcome with the privatization of state-owned enterprises. However, Beijing believes in evidence-backed gradual pragmatism.

China is not the only Asian country looking to the ancient Silk Road as a path to greater economic and political influence. Both Japan and South Korea have their own, albeit more modest, versions of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative. While Seoul and Beijing have expressed public interest in collaborating along the Silk Road, Tokyo remains silent. Will the BRI be a driver for greater integration in Northeast Asia, or will these three nations prefer to follow their own paths eastward?

It is too early to say what the Trump administration’s trade policy will look like – but a total cut-off from Asian partners is unlikely. It would harm the US economy, and offer China even more scope to cement its position in Asia. Nevertheless, with TPP and TTIP both looking unlikely, the EU should move fast to build relationships with China and ASEAN countries.

Vice Premier Wang Yang of China reassures U.S. business leaders that China would continue to open up its domestic market, make its decision-making more transparent and offer better IPR protection.

There is little evidence that an undervalued renminbi played a major role in driving China’s trade surpluses over the past decade. Likewise, a causal relationship between the U.S. trade deficits and China’s surplus has been assumed that is not true. Structural shifts, not an undervalued exchange rate, were the major factors driving China’s export capabilities. However, political systems need to find ways to address local interests without giving up the benefits that globalization can bring.

The U.S.-China relationship is complex and often fraught, but getting it right is possibly the most important economic and foreign policy task of any President. The pathway to a more advantageous U.S. economic relationship with China will not be easily forged, but it is vital to the American economy. As China’s President Xi Jinping told Trump recently, a cooperative U.S.-China relationship is the only pathway forward.