The U.S.-China trade conflict is not simply a war over tariffs and unfair competition, but rather a manifestation of a broader problem within the global political economy itself.

Trump’s belligerent style in waging the trade war overlooks China’s history of stiff resistance against stronger foes. The US-China relationship is the world’s most important, and if we don’t get it right, the chances of a violent outcome increase significantly.

The Belt and Road Initiative is slowly evolving from a mere label describing various ad hoc projects into a formal institution. The Second Belt and Road Forum underscores progress in creating multilateral architecture.

Just when a trade agreement between the United States and China appeared to be in sight, negotiators found themselves back at square one. The immediate reason for the disruption was China’s insistence on a substantially rewritten draft agreement, which, according to US President Donald Trump’s administration, reneges on previously agreed terms. But the root cause of China’s changes to the draft – the reason behind its reluctance to meet US demands – lies in a fundamental miscalculation by the Trump administration.

In the Shangri-La Summit, the Trump administration introduced a new, muscular Indo-Pacific strategy, which is fueled by private interests and foreign governments - not the interests of the US, China or emerging Asia.

While the “debate” between Fox News anchor Trish Regan and CGTN anchor Liu Xin was more of a letdown than a showdown, it nonetheless was a step towards much-needed Sino-US dialogue.

The China-US trade war is putting tremendous strain on the Chinese economy. But if policymakers act wisely, they can leverage this external pressure to expedite key reforms — restructuring China’s economy to emphasize innovation and thus move upstream in the global value chain, while expanding free trade agreements abroad.

As Huawei hysteria develops, Western governments and their media systems present China as an ideological adversary opposed to traditional US views on privacy. In doing so, is Washington pitching China as a new and more dangerous opponent of western liberal democracy?

The latest escalation in US-China economic frictions points at worrisome trends. In the short run, US allies may benefit from US-China economic tensions, but serious dangers lie ahead.

Trade and economic ties were long the ballast in China-US ties — despite political disputes, the business community was in favor of warmer relations. Now the ballast threatens to turn into a stumbling block, as trade may be the sticking point preventing both nations from returning to a friendly stance, while exacerbating their superpower competition.