Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — The Hoover Institution is launching a new podcast to explore all facets of the great power competition between China and the United States, with the first episode asking how Donald Trump’s return to the White House will change that dynamic.
China Considered with Elizabeth Economy is a Hoover Institution podcast series that features in-depth conversations with leading political figures, scholars, and activists from around the world. The series explores the ideas, events, and forces shaping China’s future and its global relationships, offering high-level expertise, clear-eyed analysis, and valuable insights to demystify China’s evolving dynamics and what they may mean for ordinary citizens and key decision makers across societies, governments, and the private sector.
China Considered is hosted by Hargrove Senior Fellow Elizabeth Economy, an internationally renowned authority on the politics of the People’s Republic of China and Sino-American relations. Recognized by Politico Magazine as one of the ten names that matter on China policy, Economy is a highly sought-after expert in the media and policy community and is author of influential essays and books, including most recently, “China’s Alternative Order” (Foreign Affairs, 2024), The World According to China (Polity, 2022) and The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State (Oxford, 2018).
For the inaugural episode, to air Tuesday, November 19, Economy speaks with Hoover Distinguished Visiting Fellow Matt Pottinger, US deputy national security advisor from 2019‒2021 and editor of the recently published The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan (Hoover Institution Press, 2024), and Evan Medeiros, senior fellow in US-China Relations at Georgetown University and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council from 2013‒2015. Medeiros is author of Cold Rivals: The New Era of US-China Strategic Competition (Georgetown University Press, 2024).
Together, Economy, Pottinger, and Medeiros discuss where the US-China relationship stands at the end of the Biden administration and the second Trump administration’s possible approach to China policy, as Trump has already promised significant increases in tariffs on Chinese imports.
They speak about President Biden’s signature pieces of legislation, including the CHIPS Act and the decision to exclude Chinese-made electric vehicles from the domestic market, and how the incoming Trump administration will view them.
Medeiros reflects on preparing for meetings in the Oval Office with President Obama while Pottinger remembers the national security decision-making process in the first Trump term.
Economy asks both guests to walk in the shoes of China’s leaders as they anticipate the incoming moves of a second Trump administration. Given recent events, the strengthening of the China-Russia relationship, and tensions around Taiwan, they consider whether there is still room for US-China cooperation.
Up next on Thursday, November 21, Economy will speak with Dan Rosen, analyst and cofounder of the Rhodium Group, about the state of China’s economy, whether it can rebound, and the implications for the US.
Listen to the first episode, “US-China Policy in Trump 2.0,” featuring Economy, Pottinger, and Medeiros, here.
About the Host
Elizabeth Economy is the Hargrove Senior Fellow and codirector of the Program on the US, China, and the World at the Hoover Institution. From 2021‒2023, she took leave from Hoover to serve as the senior advisor for China to the US secretary of commerce. Before joining Hoover, she was the C. V. Starr Senior Fellow and director, Asia Studies, at the Council on Foreign Relations.
