China Plans, America Reacts

By Stephen S. Roach – Project Syndicate

US President Donald Trump’s transactional strain of industrial policy has prompted many to ask whether he has embraced Chinese-style state capitalism. But Trumponomics, lacking an overarching strategy and largely based on the whims of one man, is nothing like China’s comprehensive “all-of-government” approach.

China’s leaders are hard at work putting the finishing touches on the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan. Meanwhile, since the beginning of his second term, US President Donald Trump has issued a record 205 executive orders and signed only a handful of bills into law. The comparison is striking: While China has a strategic planning process, America has neither a plan nor a strategy.