The following is the Aug, 8, 2019 Congressional Research Service report, U.S.-China Relations.
From the report
Trump Administration China Policy
Under U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) are engaged in what the Trump Administration terms “great power competition,” including a prolonged stand-off over trade, severely straining ties on the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ establishment of diplomatic relations. The two lead the world in the size of their economies, their defense budgets, and their global greenhouse gas emissions. Both are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. In 2018, they were each other’s largest trading partners.
Trump Administration strategy documents have set the tone for U.S. policy toward China. The December 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS) argues that competition with China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and “transnational threat groups” “require[s] the United States to rethink the policies of the past two decades—policies based on the assumption that engagement with rivals and their inclusion in international institutions and global commerce would turn them into benign actors and trustworthy partners.” The NSS charges that China and Russia are “revisionist powers” that “challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”
In an ever widening array of fields, the Trump Administration has sought to identify and respond to perceived threats from China, even as it seeks China’s cooperation on such issues as stemming the flow into the United States of fentanyl, a class of deadly synthetic opioids, and maintaining pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons and missile programs. Some allege that Trump Administration policies are intended to “decouple” the U.S. and Chinese economies and societies.
Download the document here.
