The USA and China:
Much more than a Trade War
An Evening with Dr. James P. Buchanan

Thursday, November 14, 2019

5:30 p.m. Reception/6:15 p.m. Dinner/7:00 p.m. Presentation
Schiff Family Conference Center at Xavier University

There is a great deal of discussion about the trade war with China. President Trump has imposed an increasing series of tariffs on China in order to get what he believes to be a better trading agreement with China. China has retaliated with their own tariffs. That this is having negative impacts in both the US and China is undeniable. The outcome is to be determined. But the current trade war is just a small part of a much larger conflict between the West and China – a clash of models of globalization. The Washington Consensus, also known as the Bretton-Woods System has been the dominant mode of globalization since the 1950’s and has gone through its own evolution culminating with the formation of the World Trade Organization in 1992.

While China is a member of the WTO, at the same time it has developed and pursued its own competing model of globalization, which not only competes with the Bretton-Woods model but is often in violation of the rules governing its membership in the WTO. The best example of the Chinese model of globalization is The Belt and Road Initiative – a long-term plan for regional interconnectivity and dominance in Asia to which China has committed some $8 trillion dollars. Both the WTO and The Belt and Road are facing significant challenges. This session will lay out in broad terms the two Globalizations allowing us to discuss this clash of globalizations and the implications for US foreign and trade policy.

Dr. James P. Buchanan was educated at Yale University and University of Chicago where he completed a PhD in comparative religions, philosophies and comparative value systems. He has also studied in France, Russia and China. In 2000 he became the first holder of the Besl Family Chair in Ethics/Religion and Society at Xavier University. From 2002 to the present he has been University Professor and Executive Director of The Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Xavier.

Dr. Buchanan has delivered over 300 lectures and talks worldwide on issues ranging from interfaith relations; globalization; systems theory and global systems, and sustainability. He has published widely. His new book, Wagers Into the Abyss: Ethics in an Age of Global Systems will be published next year.