Leaders | The new scold war

The pandemic is driving America and China further apart

A relationship long burdened by rivalry and suspicion has fallen into outright hostility

Editor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hub

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “The new scold war”

Leaders May 9th 2020

A dangerous gap: The markets v the real economy

From the May 9th 2020 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
Reuse this content

More from Leaders

Keir Starmer surrounded by the Eu stars

Sir Keir Starmer should aim higher in his reset with the EU

And he needs to be clearer about what Britain wants

illustration of a world map outlined by a single red electrical cord, with a plug at one end and a socket at the other

To make electricity cheaper and greener, connect the world’s grids

Less than 3% of the world’s power is internationally traded—a huge wasted opportunity

Chinese AI is catching up, posing a dilemma for Donald Trump

The success of cheap Chinese models threatens America’s technological lead

America has an imperial presidency

And in Donald Trump, an imperialist president for the first time in over a century

Tariffs will harm America, not induce a manufacturing rebirth

Donald Trump’s pursuit of tariffs will make the world poorer—and America, too 

How to improve clinical trials

Involving more participants can lead to new medical insights