Though China forged a new economic relationship with Venezuela under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, the PRC’s continued presence is almost guaranteed through the need for Venezuelan oil.

The Chinese economy is still going strong, though some changes are in order.

The third round of US-China trade talks were "productive," according to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, although no clear resolution has been made to end the protracted trade war. The most recent trade talks, which concluded in Beijing this Friday, resulted in pledges to increase purchases of US goods, including $200 billion of US semiconductors over six years, but made questionable headway on 'structural issues' long contested by US lawmakers, which include "forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights, cyber theft, agriculture, services, non-tariff barriers, and currency," according to the White House.

Under President Obama, the US-China relationship was viewed as critical and treated with care. Now, under President Trump, China hawks dominate US foreign policy. How did we get there, and what will it mean for “the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century”?

The writing on the wall for China isn't good. Can the global economy cope with it?

The “America First” objective is based on a zero-sum mentality, rather than economic reality. While it seeks to advance American interests at the cost of other nations, this policy is ultimately the most detrimental to the US.

In the postwar era, the multilateral development banks were created to facilitate global trade. Today, they are ‘America First’ targets.

Major countries must be careful not to allow conflicts to destabilize the world.

In the era of digitalization, China is leading the world in e-commerce and mobile payment technology while the US is struggling to modernize outdated retail systems.

While excessive freedom for subnational governments can lead to instability, excessive control can choke off the local-level experimentation and competition that has long driven growth in China.