The United States and China managed to agree on a "phase-one" trade deal in December. For now at least, the two countries have reached a truce in the trade war that had been launched by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Washington appears to have no intention, however, of halting its efforts to eliminate China's Huawei corporation from the next-generation 5G telecommunication networks in the U.S. In fact, the struggle between the two countries for hegemony in certain strategic technologies, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech, is likely to gain in intensity going forward.
Finance, investments and currencies will be swept up in the maelstrom of the U.S.-China struggle for supremacy. Infrastructure investment will expand their respective spheres of influence through connectivity. Reserve currencies will produce network effects and sustain financial controlling power. The SWIFT payment system already allows the U.S. to impose monetary sanctions with immediate effect.