As the trade war between China and the United States intensified, all eyes were on the highly anticipated meeting between China President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump. The meeting, postponed twice, finally happened during the G20 meetings in Osaka at end of June 2019. 10 days after this meeting, we cohosted the “U.S.-China Trade and Economic Relations: What Now, What Next” international forum in Hong Kong with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) to discuss the outcomes and assess the relationship with key stakeholders.

Three former heads of states—Jean Chretien, Yasuo Fukuda and Goh Chok Tong--former prime ministers of Canada, Japan and Singapore respectively, and a host of senior diplomats, government officials, business leaders and renowned scholars of different countries attended the forum. Different and convergent views were presented, but the common desire for finding a new equilibrium and improving economic structures was apparent.