Introduction to the Special Issue

ABSTRACT

The US presidential election in November will therefore be a critical juncture, either deepening disputes and hardening attitudes if Donald Trump is reelected, or possibly opening a new chapter in relations if Joe Biden wins. On the three global issues—trade, climate change, and the pandemic —that dominate US-China debate, Gregory Chin shows that while the Trump administration has brought "major global institutions to the point of legal or political crisis," China has seized opportunities to stand as the guardian of globalization in multilateral institutions, notably the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization. [...]Chin ends on a cautiously optimistic note, namely, that a Biden White House might be open to cooperation with China on climate change and global health, while also rejoining multilateral institutions such as WHO and the Paris climate accords. [...]he cautions that the future will be non-zero-sum and messy.