A Double Thucydides Trap

Donald Trump’s presidency steered U S -China relations into a phase of open rivalry for global domination The U S has failed to sidestep the risk of confrontation with China that Graham Allison warned of with his “Thucydides trap” metaphor The two countries’ strongest trading and economic interdependence has proven unable to prevent a political standoff between Washington and Beijing Their competition in science and engineering may result in the emergence of two technoeconomic platforms other countries will have to choose between At the same time, the new U S -Chinese bipolarity is far more complex and internally controversial, which is a reason enough to postulate the existence of a “double Thucydides trap ” Importantly, global development is being greatly influenced by the interaction within the U S -China-Russia triangle © 2020, Foreign Policy Research Foundation All rights reserved