Deescalating A Trade War: Strategies Of Reciprocation Amid Us-China Great Power Competition

Quek, Kai (The University Of Hong Kong) Yeung, Eddy S. F. (Texas A&M University)

ISBN 10: 1009659219 / ISBN 13: 9781009659215

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2026

About this Item

78 pages. 6.00x0.16x9.00 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # x-1009659219

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Deescalating A Trade War: Strategies Of Reciprocation Amid Us-China Great Power Competition
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009659219
• ISBN 13: 9781009659215
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.13 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

Reciprocation is central to conflict deescalation. How a country reciprocates-and how its domestic public and international rival respond to its reciprocation-can play an important role in shaping the trajectory of conflicts. Moving beyond conventional understandings in international relations that focus on balanced reciprocity between states, we propose two additional general forms of reciprocation: semi-reciprocity (reciprocation perceivably less than received) and super-reciprocity (more than received). We situate our theory in a hard case for deescalation, the US-China trade war, where relative-gains concerns are salient amid great power rivalry. Employing novel dyadic experiments that capture strategic interactions between states, we show, for the first time, how different strategies of reciprocation shape the domestic feasibilities of deescalation. The findings reveal how different forms and sequences of reciprocation shape the prospect of rapprochement, shedding light on the public dynamics underlying different pathways of deescalating a trade war that has profoundly impacted the world.