De-globalizing Trade in the Wake of the COVID-19: Impacts and Changes in the US-China Relation

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on global trade and its transformation of trade relations between the United States and China. The outbreak of the epidemic triggered a huge restructuring of the global trade system and accelerated the trend of global trade de-globalization. As the two largest economies, the trade relationship between the United States and China plays an important role in this process. This paper analyzes the causes of deglobalization, which are mainly caused by the fracture of industrial chain, trade protection and industrial upgrading. At the same time, the paper focuses on the factors that have caused the deglobalization trend in the post-COVID-19 era, such as changing trade agreements, poor cross-border investment environment, and the challenges and uncertainties brought by e-commerce. Finally, it concentrates on the changes of the US and China bilateral trade in the post-COVID-19 era. Affected by the epidemic, the bilateral relationship between these two countries has become more conflictual and focused on technological competition. Finally, the trend against globalization has led to inefficient economic development and the regionalization of trade because of the necessity of communication.