Adopting a historical approach, Jan Kiely, Senior Lecturer in the International History and Politics Department, assessed the rupture to decades of intertwining US-China relations beyond trade, as well as the roles played by the Communist Party and the military in this moment of challenges and opportunities. 

From an economic angle, Yuan Zi, Assistant Professor of Economics at the Institute and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), elaborated on the key facts on China–US trade, before considering China’s economic policy response to Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs. 

Finally, Sociocultural anthropologist, Minhua Ling, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, addressed the topic by focusing first on the meaning of "Made in China" by discussing the impacts of the tariff war on China's (migrant) labor conditions, before then considering what the American Dream might now resemble for Chinese students under Trump 2.0. 

The event was moderated by Annouk Buess, Master Student in International History and Politics.