On Thursday, January 15, 2026, ICAS hosted a virtual event on the outlook of U.S.-China relations after the first year of the Second Trump Administration. Moderating the panel was ICAS’ Sourabh Gupta, and panelists included Dr. Robert Sutter (Elliott School of George Washington University), Dr. Zhiqun Zhu (Bucknell University), and Dr. Yawei Liu (The Carter Center).
Drawing on happenings throughout the Indo-Pacific, the conversation revolved around Trump’s impact on the rules-based international order and how the new National Security Strategy will impact the U.S.’ trajectory in the years to come. The panelists also addressed how President Trump and President Xi view each other, the tentative trade deal, past and future meetings between the two, as well as the specifics of semiconductors, what economic decoupling looks like, shifting sentiment of each countries respective citizens, and predictions on security issues such as Taiwan.
