As China’s economy has expanded rapidly over the past three decades, the impact of its performance on global markets has also grown. In the second half of this podcast, Paul Haenle and Carnegie’s Yukon Huang examined myths about the relationship between China’s trade surpluses and U.S. trade deficits as well as the challenges and opportunities facing China’s efforts to promote urbanization.

Huang refuted the commonly-held assumption that U.S. trade deficits are caused by China’s trade surpluses by pointing out that U.S. trade deficits emerged years before China’s surpluses did. He also argued that China’s sprawling cities are smaller and less densely populated than other large urban centers elsewhere in the world. Huang concluded that differing political systems, cultures, and value systems help explain why views on China’s economy diverge so greatly.

Yukon Huang

Yukon Huang is a senior associate in the Carnegie Asia Program. His research focuses on China’s economic development and its impact on Asia and the global economy.

Paul Haenle

Paul Haenle is the director of the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. Prior to joining Carnegie, he served from June 2007 to June 2009 as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian Affairs on the National Security Council staffs of former president George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.