The global consequences of a Sino-American cold war

What started as a trade war between the US and China is quickly escalating into a death match for global economic, technological, and military dominance, writes Nouriel Roubini.

A few years ago, as part of a Western delegation, I met China’s president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. When addressing us, Xi argued that China’s rise would be peaceful, and that other countries — namely, the US — need not worry about the ‘Thucydides Trap,’ so named for the Greek historian who chronicled how Sparta’s fear of a rising Athens made war between the two inevitable.