In this special edition of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA podcast on global trade, Ana Swanson, trade and international economics reporter for The New York Times, sits with Merle A. Hinrich, chairman of the Hinrich Foundation, to discuss the role trade has played in the long arc of US-China ties, his perspectives on the superpower summit in Beijing, and what likely comes next for the world’s most important bilateral relationship.

In late May 2026, days after President Donald Trump visited his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing in a pivotal summit for the world’s most important bilateral relationship, Hinrich Foundation Chairman Merle Hinrich wrote an opinion editorial for the foundation’s Thought Leadership weekly. His essay, The US-China Trust Deficit, critiques the failures on both sides to move beyond domestic messaging to the more crucial task of mending longer-term trust between their nations.

Trade has long underpinned the US-China relationship. That foundation is now under unprecedented strain. In this podcast with The New York Times’ award-winning veteran journalist Ana Swanson, Hinrich explores how decades of globalization shaped and warped the bilateral relationship, why Washington and Beijing now both view trade through geopolitics, and what rising protectionism, industrial policy, trade weaponization, and declining trust mean for the future of the global economy.

A new multilateral trade framework might emerge “that is really very focused upon the balancing of the economic issues.”

“Because if you don't have the domestic support for cross-border trade, you have a problem,” he said.

Download Transcript

Tune into the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast series for insights on international trade.