The US-China Podcast

Drawing on original research, fieldwork, and policy experience, Leland Lazarus examines China's efforts to establish "strategic support points" across Latin America and the Caribbean in his new book, Dragon in the Americas: China's Power, Presence, and Regional Influence. The book explains how Beijing increasingly blends economic engagement with strategic ambition, even as countries in the region exercise their own agency, balancing relations with China and the United States. The result is a nuanced, data-driven framework for understanding power, dependency, and sovereignty in a rapidly evolving region.
In an interview conducted on October 13, 2026, Dr. Leland Lazarus joins Natalia Cote-Muñoz to discuss Latin America's role within the future of U.S.-China relations.
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Over $6 trillion of trade flows through 8 chokepoints in the South China Sea, with at least 50% going through the Taiwan and Malacca Straits alone. The United States, China, and other countries heavily rely on these maritime routes to import and export crucial goods. As the Strait of Hormuz crisis continues to unfold, countries across the globe are now looking at the South China Sea as the next potential economic chokepoint. What are the United States and China doing to ensure stable and safe access through maritime passages in the South China Sea? 

Brian Hart joined us on October 16, 2026, to share how crucial maritime chokepoints are to the global economy and what the United States and China are doing to upkeep or undermine international shipping stability. 

In July 2026, Brian co-authored a CSIS brief on chokepoints in the South China Sea, read the full report here.
Read his full bio and watch the video here.

In November 2025, during an unscripted exchange in the Japanese Diet, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on U.S. forces defending Taiwan could constitute a survival-threatening situation for Japan. The remark set off the sharpest downturn in relations between Tokyo and Beijing in years. China responded with a broad pressure campaign, including a travel advisory, suspended seafood imports, restrictions on rare earth and dual-use exports, and measures against Japanese firms, alongside renewed accusations of Japanese militarism.
Nearly a year later, the two governments remain at an impasse with Beijing maintaining that relations will not fundamentally improve until Takaichi retracts her remarks. The dispute has exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains that Japan and the United States share, reinforced Japan's commitment to reducing its economic dependence on China, and raised questions in Tokyo about U.S. support at a time when Washington is seeking to stabilize its own relationship with Beijing. 
In an interview conducted on September 15, 2026, Indiana University's Adam Liff and the University of Montana's Kristin Vekasi join Georgetown University's Evan Medeiros, NCUSCR board member and Public Intellectuals Program fellow, to discuss what Prime Minister Takaichi actually said about Taiwan, how Beijing has used economic pressure in response, and what the rift means for the United States. 
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Discussions of U.S.-China competition in artificial intelligence (AI) tend to focus on chips, but AI also runs on electricity, and here the two countries diverge sharply. China generates roughly twice as much electricity as the United States, and its capacity continues to grow rapidly. The United States leads in AI laboratories and chip technology, but interconnection backlogs and equipment shortages limit how quickly its grid can expand, even as electricity demand from data centers is projected to more than double by 2030. 

In an interview conducted on October 23, 2026, Baruch College's Gang He and Johns Hopkins SAIS's Jeremy Wallace join the Asia Society Policy Institute's Kate Logan to discuss what grid capacity means for AI development in both countries, how China's "East Data, West Computing" strategy is reshaping where data centers draw their power, and what is at stake for electricity costs, emissions, and grid reliability. 

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In July 2026, a bipartisan delegation of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), led by Chair Randall Schriver and Vice Chair Mike Kuiken, traveled to China for the first time since 2019. The delegation met with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the People's Liberation Army in Beijing, then traveled to Hangzhou and Shanghai. Along the way, commissioners visited Zhejiang University, a wearable technology company, and a biotechnology research and testing facility, and met with American business leaders and diplomats.   

Congress established the USCC in 2000 with the mission of examining the economic and security dimensions of the U.S.-China relationship. Its twelve commissioners, appointed by the leadership of both parties in the House and Senate, deliver an annual report to Congress with policy recommendations, a number of which have impacted China-related legislation..  

In an interview conducted on October 5, 2026, USCC Chair Randall Schriver and Vice Chair Mike Kuiken join NCUSCR President Stephen Orlins to discuss their impressions from the trip, including China's growing confidence in its global role, the widespread diffusion of electric vehicles and solar power, and China's emergence as an innovator in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, along with the policy questions that raises for the United States. 

About the speakers