Superfusion

Please join New America in a conversation between Zachary Karabell and Steve Coll about the book, Superfusion: How China and America Became One Economy and Why the World’s Prosperity Depends on It.

The emergence of China as an economic superpower is now widely recognized, but as Zachary Karabell reveals in his new book Superfusion, that is only one aspect of the story. Over the past decade, the Chinese and U.S. economies have fused to become one integrated system and how they manage their relationship will determine whether the coming decades witness increased global prosperity or greater instability.

Karabell traces the twenty-year history that began with the suppression of the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The Chinese leadership adopted a policy of aggressive economic reform and courted U.S. companies and expertise. Karabell charts how integral those and other U.S. companies have been to China’s success and how integral China has been to their growth. Though accelerated by the admission of China to the World Trade Organization in 2001, the economies began to fuse without attracting much notice. Preoccupied with the threat of terrorism and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States soon found itself deeply in debt to China while also reaping the rewards of China’s growth.

Now both countries find themselves in an unfamiliar and challenging position. As Karabell argues, the fusion has advanced too far for either to extricate itself without severe harm.

Participants

featured speaker
Zachary Karabell
President, RiverTwice Research
Board Member, New America Foundation
Author, Superfusion: How China and America Became One Economy and Why the World’s Prosperity Depends on It

moderator
Steve Coll
President
New America Foundation