Heine Lends Insights into US-China Relations as Trump’s Presidency Begins
Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, was recently interviewed by Anand Naidoo, on The Heat, regarding Donal Trump’s second term in office and the prospects of US-China relations.
Along with Heine, Chas Freeman, Yan Liang, and Victor Gao joined this discussion which addressed the question: “What does a new US administration mean for the world?”. Being the former ambassador of Chile to China, Heine focused on answering questions related to China and the US.
Heine asserts that there are two views on what Trump’s policies towards China will be. The first view is that there will be a repeat of what happened wherein relations between the US and China start off stably, however, enter a downward spiral of trade wars and tech wars. However, Heine tends to support the second view which suggests that this is a different moment and there is a possibility of a grand bargain with China. While either view is possible to manifest, Heine believes that there is scope to have a different relationship with China in this new second Trump mandate.
In his interview, Heine warns that we should not underestimate Trump’s unpredictability and his transactional approach to the world. However, he urges that people keep their minds open as, contrary to popular expectations, Trump has not started China-bashing after taking office.
On the topic of Latin America, Heine demonstrates a shift in attention towards the region. In his first term, Trump did not pay much attention to Latin America, however, this time he has already threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico, threatened to take the Panama Canal, and the matter of mass deportations would affect Latin Americans. Of these issues, Heine suggests that the Panama Canal issue will be at the forefront as it is a matter of concern and sovereignty of the region.
Trump’s decision to pull back on climate change efforts such as withdrawing from the Paris Accord, is, according to Heine, already generating a lot of push back in the rest of the world. In this regard, Latin America, being with the Amazon, plays an integral role in the region.
The interview in full can be accessed on CGTN America here.