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Governing the Interface of U.S.-China Trade Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Gregory Shaffer*
Affiliation:
Chancellor's Professor, University of California, Irvine School of Law. Thanks to Anne van Aaken, Rachel Brewster, Tomer Broude, Henrique Choer Moraes, Kathleen Claussen, Jacob Cogan, Harlan Cohen, Mark Cohen, Christina Davis, Jacques deLisle, Henry Gao, Benton Heath, Jennifer Hillman, Rob Howse, Nicholas Lamp, Desiree LeClercq, Simon Lester, Tim Meyer, Marko Milanović, Amrita Narlikar, Anne Peters, Anthea Roberts, Dani Rodrik, Robert Wolfe, Mark Wu, Weihuan Zhou, and participants at workshops at Centro Estudios Internacionales Universidad Católica, Freie Universität Berlin, Harvard-Yale international law journals virtual conference, the University of California, Irvine, the University of Pennsylvania Center for the Study of Contemporary China, and the WTO Trade Dialogues Lecture Series, as well as five anonymous reviewers and editors Curt Bradley and Laurence Helfer, for their comments. Thanks also to Allyson Myers, Jessica Pierucci, and Christina Tsou for research assistance.

Abstract

The strained U.S.-China trade relationship poses a frontal challenge to the multilateral trading system and has broad repercussions for international law. This Article addresses three dimensions of this relationship: (1) the economic dimension; (2) the geopolitical/national security dimension; and (3) the normative/social policy dimension. The Article advances a middle ground between those seeking to reinforce the World Trade Organization (WTO) system with new rules that limit the state's role in the economy, and those who reject WTO constraints in favor of a power-based system. It proposes pragmatic reforms to govern the interface of the two states’ respective systems across these three dimensions to facilitate ongoing exchange while giving each country latitude to protect itself from the externalities of the other's policies. The result would be greater room for bilateral and plurilateral bargaining, but conducted within the umbrella of the multilateral system.

Information

Type
Lead Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for The American Society of International Law

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