New CNAS Report Explores How U.S.-China Competition Upended the International Economic Order and What the United States Can Do to Fix It

Washington, June 26, 2024 — Today, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a new report, Disorderly Conduct: How U.S.-China Competition Upended the International Economic Order and What the United States Can Do to Fix It by Emily Kilcrease and Adam Tong.

The report explores the rise of security issues within the U.S.-China economic relationship, emphasizing how strategic competition has disrupted the global economic order and proposes a framework for the United States to navigate this evolving landscape. While historically U.S. strategies have sought to integrate China into the global order, policymakers no longer believe they can change China’s behavior and instead seek to constrain actions that threaten U.S. economic security interests.

The report urges the United States to define a new strategy for advancing U.S. economic and security interests within the bilateral economic relationship with China, and recommends that the United States:

• Pursue bilateral dialogue on the narrow scope of mutual U.S.-PRC interests;
• Engage in norm building on the appropriate role of government intervention in the economy in pursuit of hard power and resiliency interests; and
• Build new international institutions for a revamped global economic order.

The report concludes by stressing the importance of sustained efforts to build legitimacy and credibility in this endeavor, warning against a purely defensive strategy that could further strain relations and calling for a watchful and clear-eyed assessment of whether this new approach is more successful in advancing economic and security interests than what came before.

For more information or to arrange an interview with the report authors, please contact Alexa Whaley at awhaley@cnas.org.