Is it a spiraling superpower showdown or a glorified trade negotiation? The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is kicking off a three-day visit in China’s economic capital, Shanghai. Unlike during the Cold War, when exchanges between the blocs were anecdotal, today it's the world's two biggest powers at the table – powers whose biggest trading partners happen to be each other.
When Washington and Beijing face off over China flooding world markets with subsidised solar panels and electric car batteries, it certainly sounds like bartering over big bucks. But there's also competing political models at stake.
