Clyde Prestowitz has worked on Asia and globalization for fifty years and has written several bestselling books on these subjects. He was a leader of the first U.S. trade mission to China in 1982 and is a veteran U.S. trade negotiator and presidential advisor.
Coming Jan 2021
When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, most experts expected the WTO rules and procedures to liberalize China and make it “a responsible stakeholder in the liberal world order.” But the experts made the wrong bet. China today is liberalizing neither economically nor politically but, if anything, becoming more authoritarian and mercantilist.
In this book, notably free of partisan posturing and inflammatory rhetoric, renowned globalization and Asia expert Clyde Prestowitz describes the key challenges posed by China and the strategies America and the Free World must adopt to meet them. He argues that these must be more sophisticated and more comprehensive than a narrowly targeted trade war. Rather, he urges strategies that the United States and its allies can use unilaterally without contravening international or domestic law.
“This book lucidly describes the economic and diplomatic misconceptions that have shaped our China policy. It then lays out many ways that we can act to prevent Chinese hegemony.”
Ralph Gomory, President Emeritus, Sloan Foundation, former Chief Scientist, IBM
Photo Credit: Edgar Artiga
“In The World Turned Upside Down, Clyde Prestowitz, who led the way in describing how a country like Japan can skew the world trading system, powerfully addresses the biggest problem of all: China. A perfect match of author and subject.”
James Mann, author of The China Fantasy
“Many books have described what China is, where it is going and where it comes from. What makes this book unique is Prestowitz’s detailed prescription for how the US should change to face China. Every political, academic and business leader who cares about democracy and the free world should read this book and follow its advice.”
Alberto Forchielli, Chairman and CEO of Mandarin Capital
"[The pandemic] has demonstrated the impossibility of the U.S. and China being coupled closely together. The notion that free trade and globalization are going to tame China and make it more democratic, etc., I think this has shown that’s bull."
- Clyde Prestowitz, Los Angeles Times
“How did America and other advanced democracies find themselves increasingly beholden to the Chinese Communist Party? Seasoned Asia-hand Clyde Prestowitz’ wide-ranging exposé unpacks the long road to this current disturbing reality, while offering a sober and sensible blueprint for pushing back against the PRC’s malign activities in the US and around the world.”
David Shambaugh
Author of Where Great Powers Meet: America & China in Southeast Asia
PRESS & LATEST THINKING
Dollar privilege safe until EU and China grow up
Financial Times, September 13, 2020
Until the EU and China grow up, something not now on the cards, the dollar’s exorbitant privilege is quite safe.
It's the same Cold War
LinkedIn, August 5, 2020
A chorus of voices has recently warned that America is starting a “new Cold War” with China that it cannot win. This turns both the history of the past thirty years and of the causes of today’s increasing tension upside down.
Decoupling from China: there’s precedent
The New York Times, September 13, 2020
Australia, India and Japan have already decoupled from China at least as much and perhaps more than the United States.
Concern for Uighurs takes a back seat to trade deals
Financial Times, July 27, 2020
At the end of what was supposed to be 50 years of “a high degree of independence for Hong Kong”, why would Uighurs trust a new trade deal with China?
Time to wake up and start decoupling from China
The American Conservative, August 24, 2020
Beijing was never going to democratize because of open markets. They have merely used them to push their authoritarian designs.
5 questions about China that boards should be asking right now
Harvard Business Review, June 10, 2020
Do CEOs and boards really want to help the Chinese smother Hong Kong, erase Xinjiang and Tibet and sink all the non-Chinese fishermen in the South China Sea? At some point, that acquiescence is bound to look bad.
America's big China mistake
Washington Monthly, June 7, 2020
Globalization has failed to make the country more democratic. It’s time for a different approach.
China’s reaction to the pandemic shows why the U.S. and its allies need a NATO for trade
The Washington Post, May 20, 2020
Democratic, rule-of-law-nations should agree to come to each other’s economic aid against an outside adversary.
The end of the global supply chain
The Boston Globe, March 30, 2020
The hidden costs of globalization are becoming apparent as a result of COVID-19.
Let the free trade myth die
The Washington Post, February 30, 2020
The sooner the myth of free trade — that it is always and everywhere a win-win proposition — dies and globalization is recognized as it really is, the better off we will all be.
Tougher Huawei restrictions stall after Defense Department objects
The New York Times, January 24, 2020
We are engaged in a non-shooting, but completely serious tech war. Keeping the most advanced chips and chip making equipment out of China will slow them down.
As US-Japan defense treaty turns 60, experts call for more Japanese investment in US alliance
Stars and Stripes, January 21, 2020
There’s a question mark about to what extent Japan is committed to the U.S.-Japan security alliance and how far will Japan be willing to go in a conflict with China.
