Hal Brands, Columnist

Four Fatal Problems in the New US Approach to China

February 6, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

It’s gonna be a big year.
Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

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Tumult over Venezuela, Iran and Greenland has captured the headlines in 2026. But the US-China rivalry is still the central challenge for American statecraft and the central cleavage in world affairs.

Wednesday’s phone call between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping marks the start of a year of intense diplomacy between the two leaders, with potential meetings in Beijing, Washington and other locales. The coming months will show whether Trump can hold that dialogue together without letting America’s competitive position come apart.