President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 with a pledge to help America “win like never before.” Winning the competition with China will be key to achieving that outcome.
Outcompeting China requires a mixture of creative policymaking, hard-nosed geopolitical posturing, and high-stakes engagement that Trump is uniquely qualified to lead.
His strong mandate and unorthodox style give him a degree of political capital and policy creativity few of his predecessors possessed. By engaging China smartly, he can ensure that, for once, Washington and not Beijing sets the terms of the bilateral relationship.
The president faces a worthy opponent in China’s Xi Jinping. China has spent the past year preparing for Trump’s return.
Xi and his foreign policy team have dealt with the president before and think they know what makes him tick. Their plan involves more than…
