The Role of Protectionism in Current Trade Relations: A Study on U.S.-China Trade Relations in Trump’s America

In the last few years, international trade has experienced a significant shift from the liberalising trend that characterised commerce during the post-World War II period. Protectionist measures, namely tariff-based barriers, have reappeared at the centre of economic policies of various countries, particularly the United States’. Among these developments, the deterioration of the trade relations between China and the U.S. represents one of the most critical shifts in the contemporary global economic order. The two trade wars initiated by the Trump administration in 2018 and 2025 have marked a halt in the engagement-oriented policies promoted until the previous decade; U.S.-China relations, which were once characterised by increasing economic interdependence and mutual trade gains, have slowly evolved into a relationship marked by shared growing distrust, strategic rivalry and outward economic confrontation. This thesis analyses whether protectionism is an effective tool used by the United States for addressing the economic and strategic concerns towards China’s politics, and Chinese recent rapid economic development. In particular, it examines the extent to which tariffs, as well as other trade restrictions, have efficiently succeeded in reducing the bilateral trade imbalances, more specifically U.S. large trade deficit with China, improving domestic economic outcomes, reshoring production and improving the overall economy of either country, or whether they have instead generated higher costs for companies and consumers, economic inefficiencies and worsened, or even created, geopolitical tensions. The main argument of the thesis is that the protectionist measures adopted by the United States have failed to actually resolve the structural causes of the U.S.-China trade imbalance, and on the contrary, they have exacerbated economic distortions, increased costs for domestic companies and especially domestic consumers, deepened the tensions between the two global powers, and created an overall uncertain and unstable trade environment for global trade as a whole, characterised by a more confrontational, and possibly aggressive, approach to economic exchanges between countries. Rather than correcting market failures and protecting domestic industries, protectionism has functioned more as a strategic and political tool with the aim of limiting and controlling China’s fast economic rise. This work adopts a more descriptive and analytical approach based on economic history, detailed policy analysis and empirical evidence, combining theoretical insights on protectionism with comprehensive examination of trade data, policies adopted, and sectoral impacts. The two U.S.-China trade conflicts are analysed as case studies to assess the short-term and long-term economic impacts at national and global levels alike.