China–United States relations
The relationship between the People's Republic of China and the United States has been complex and at times tense since the establishment of the PRC on 1 October 1949 and subsequent retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan. After the normalization of relations in the 1970s, the US–China relationship has been marked by persistent disputes including China's economic policies, the political status of Taiwan and territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Despite these tensions, the two nations have significant economic ties and are deeply interconnected, while also engaging in strategic competition on the global stage. As of 2025, the US and China are the world's largest and second-largest economies by nominal GDP. Collectively, they account for 44.2% of the global nominal GDP.
The proclamation of the PRC in Beijing by the Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong created a new central government on the mainland in October 1949. Relations between the US and the new Chinese government quickly soured, culminating in direct conflict during the Korean War. The US-led United Nations intervention was met with Chinese military involvement, as China sent millions of soldiers to prevent a US-aligned presence on its border. For decades, the US did not formally recognize the PRC, instead maintaining diplomatic relations with the Republic of China based in Taiwan, and as such blocked the PRC's entry into the United Nations. However, shifting geopolitical dynamics, including the Sino-Soviet split, the winding down of the Vietnam War, as well as of the Cultural Revolution, paved the way for US President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China, ultimately marking a sea change in US–China relations. On 1 January 1979, the US formally established diplomatic relations with the PRC and recognized it as the sole legitimate government of China, while maintaining unofficial ties with Taiwan via the Taiwan Relations Act, which endures as a major point of contention.
Every U.S. president since Nixon has toured China during his term in office, with the exception of Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden. The two countries cooperated with each other against the Soviet Union. Following China's reform and opening up, the trade between the two countries significantly increased starting from the 1980s, and the US gave China the most favored nation designation in 2001. The Obama administration signed a record number of bilateral agreements with China, particularly regarding climate change, though its Pivot to Asia created diplomatic friction.
Relations worsened during the 2010s over concerns including China's militarization of the South China Sea and Chinese espionage in the United States, leading observers to speculate a Second Cold War between the two powers. In 2018, President Donald Trump launched a trade war with China. The relationship further deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, the US officially classified the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as a genocide. Tensions remained high during the presidency of Joe Biden from 2021. His foreign policy prioritized strategic competition with China, imposed export controls on semiconductors to China, boosted regional alliances against China, and expanded support for Taiwan. However, the administration also emphasized that the US sought "competition, not conflict". The second Trump administration's relations with China has been marked by inconsistency. From 2025, the administration sharply escalated the trade war with China, raising tariffs, prior to negotiating with China on a reduction in the tariff rate. The administration also downplayed ideological and political conflict, instead focusing the relationship towards economic competition.
History
The People's Republic of China was founded on 1 October 1949.Korean War
On 25 June 1950, the China-aligned state of North Korea invaded US-aligned South Korea. In response, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 82, which authorized military action against North Korea. Although the Soviet Union had veto power, at the time it was boycotting the UN Security Council over the UN's recognition of the ROC instead of the PRC as the representative of China.Initially, the US government saw Chinese intervention as unlikely. The People's Republic was barely a year old and it appeared that, if China was going to engage in warfare, it would be in the Kuomintang-controlled Taiwan, not Korea. The US was opposed to the PRC's interests in Taiwan and, within two days of North Korea invading the South, US forces were deployed to the Taiwan Strait.
After their defeat in the Chinese Civil War, parts of the ROC army had retreated to Burma. The US supported these ROC forces with the hope that they would harass the PRC from the southwest, thereby diverting Chinese resources from the Korean War.
It seemed to the new Chinese leadership that stopping American encroachment into Asia was an important issue. In a speech to the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in August 1950, Chairman Mao Zedong stated, "if the American imperialists are victorious, they will become dizzy with success, and then be in a position to threaten us." PRC Premier and Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai echoed this sentiment in a speech in September: "the Chinese people can never tolerate foreign invasion, nor allow the imperialist to invade our neighbour at will without response". Chinese leadership could not tolerate an American-occupied state directly on its border: Zhou Enlai warned that China would intervene in the war on national security grounds; this warning was dismissed by US President Harry S. Truman.
On 30 September 1950, the UN offensive under the direction of the US crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea. Kim Il-Sung held an emergency meeting with Chinese officials, appealing for their urgent entry into the conflict. The UN authorized the reunification of Korea, meaning that the entire peninsula could fall into US control. On 19 October 1950, Chinese forces crossed into North Korea.
In response to the PRC's entry into the conflict, the US froze all Chinese assets in America and banned American citizens from traveling to the PRC. The PRC seized all American assets and properties and began efforts to remove American cultural influence from China, including by nationalizing cultural institutions affiliated with the US.
In late October 1950, China began its intervention with the Battle of Onjong. During the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River, the People's Volunteer Army outflanked the UN forces, leading to the defeat of the US Eighth Army. A ceasefire presented by the UN to the PRC shortly after Ch'ongch'on River, on 11 December it was rejected by the Chinese, who were now convinced of their ability to defeat the UN forces, and wanted to demonstrate China's military power by driving them out of Korea altogether. The Chinese achieved further victory at the Third Battle of Seoul and the Battle of Hoengsong, but UN forces recovered, pushing the front back to lands around the 38th parallel by July. A stalemate followed. Even though the U.S. Air Force would spend the entire war with total air supremacy, the strategic impasse ultimately lasted until the Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the fighting was signed on 27 July 1953. Since then, a divided Korea has continued to feature in U.S.-China relations, with large American forces still stationed in the South.
In 1952, in the midst of the Korean War, the American army surveyed Chinese prisoners of war asking them why they believed the PRC was involved in the conflict. Of 238 respondents, 60% agreed it was for the defense of China against the US, while only 17% said it was to defend North Korea.
Vietnam War
The People's Republic of China provided resources and training to North Vietnam, and in the summer of 1962, Mao agreed to supply Hanoi with 90,000 rifles and guns free of charge. After the launch of America's Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965, China sent anti-aircraft units and engineering battalions to North Vietnam to repair the damage caused by American bombing, rebuild roads and railroads, and perform other engineering work, freeing additional hundreds of thousands North Vietnamese Army units for combat against American forces supporting South Vietnam.The Chinese presence in North Vietnam was well known to US officials, which contributed to President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's decision not to invade North Vietnam, favoring a strategy of supporting South Vietnam in defending itself instead. The possibility of direct Chinese intervention was also ambiguous throughout the course of the war. Mao Zedong reportedly told journalist Edgar Snow in 1965 that China had no intention of fighting to save the Hanoi regime and would not engage the U.S. military unless it crossed into Chinese territory. US troops ultimately exited Vietnam as domestic opposition to American deployment in Vietnam increased, ending US involvement in the Vietnam War.
Freezing of relations (1949–1971)
Between 1949 and 1971, US–China relations were uniformly hostile, with frequent propaganda attacks in both directions. At the 1954 Geneva Conference, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles forbade any contact with the Chinese delegation, refusing to shake hands with Zhou Enlai, the lead Chinese negotiator. Relations deteriorated further under President John F. Kennedy. Before the Cuban Missile Crisis, policymakers in Washington were uncertain whether or not China would break with the Soviet Union on the basis of ideology, national ambitions, and readiness for a role in guiding communist activities in many countries. New insight came with the Sino-Indian border war in November 1962 and Beijing's response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy administration officials concluded that China was more militant and more dangerous than the Soviet Union, making better relations with Moscow desirable, with both nations trying to contain Chinese ambitions. Diplomatic recognition of China remained out of the question, as a crucial veto power on the UN Security Council was held by America's ally on Taiwan. The US continued to work to prevent the PRC from taking China's seat in the United Nations and encouraged its allies not to deal with the PRC. The United States placed an embargo on trading with the PRC, and encouraged allies to follow it.The PRC developed nuclear weapons in 1964 and, as later declassified documents revealed, President Johnson considered preemptive attacks to halt its nuclear program. He ultimately decided the measure carried too much risk, and it was abandoned. Instead, Johnson looked for ways to improve relations. The American public seemed more open to the idea of expanding contacts with China, such as the relaxation of the trade embargo. But the War in Vietnam was raging, with China aiding North Vietnam. Mao's Great Leap Forward had failed in its goal to properly industrialize China and sparked a famine, and his Cultural Revolution exercised hostility to the US. In the end, Johnson made no move to change the standoff.
Despite official non-recognition, the United States and the People's Republic of China held 136 meetings at the ambassadorial level beginning in 1954 and continuing until 1970, first in Geneva and in 1958–1970 in Warsaw.
The Cultural Revolution brought about near-complete isolation of China from the outside world and vocal denunciations of both US imperialism and Soviet revisionism.
Beginning in 1967, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission established the China Claims Program, in which American citizens could denominate the sum total of their lost assets and property following the Communist seizure of foreign property in 1950. American companies were reluctant to invest in China despite Deng Xiaoping's reassurances of a stable business environment.