REGIONAL STRATEGIC & POLITICAL STUDIES PROGRAMME

Understanding Trump’s China Strategy

Date: Tuesday, 16 September 2025

Time: 10AM-11:30AM (Singapore Time)

Venue: ISEAS Seminar Room 1&2

This hybrid seminar is brought to you by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

About the Seminar

Eight months into Donald Trump’s second term, the US strategy towards China remains unclear, marked by inconsistent positions and some U-turns in policies across trade, security, technology engagements with China. How do we understand the Trump 2.0 administration’s strategy on China? It is generally accepted that the US and China will remain locked in long-term strategic competition across multiple domains. Some have gone so far as to suggest that strategic trust between the two nations may be irretrievably lost. Yet some experts have argued that President Trump takes a much less ideological approach on China and remains keen on striking a deal with Beijing. His more transactional approach and narrower priorities could provide a window of opportunity to set the US-China relationship on a more even keel. There appears to be a lack of strategic clarity about what America wants from China, perhaps driven by a divided administration, where hawkish elements have pushed to maintain a hardline against China to preserve US primacy, while others have taken a more restrained and pragmatic approach to prioritise US economic interests more narrowly. This webinar aims to unpack the various facets of the Trump administration’s approach in dealing with China and assess what this means for Southeast Asia.

To register and other details, please open the link:

https://www.iseas.edu.sg/mec-events/understanding-trumps-china-strategy/

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