Jake Werner
As seen in:
MSN,
Business Insider,
The Guardian,
TIME,
Flipboard,
Heise Online,
The Minnesota Star Tribune,
Boston University,
Foreign Policy Magazine,
MS NOW
and
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jake Werner
Chinese Development Is the Betrayal Washington Cannot Forgive
World / September 23, 2026 Chinese Development Is the Betrayal Washington Cannot Forgive The prospects for Xi Jinping’s visit are dim because American leaders are blaming China for the failures of globalization.
Trump and Xi meet on a 'rotting' diplomatic foundation
As Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for his third meeting in less than a year with U.S. President Donald Trump, calm seems to prevail in the relationship. This is a dangerous illusion. The sense of stability is breeding complacency on both sides even as pressure builds up under the surface. We may be throwing away our last opening to put the world's most important bilateral relationship on a solid foundation.
Trump and Xi meet on a 'rotting' diplomatic foundation
; ; ; ; Continue reading More for You Continue reading More for You
Trump and Xi meet on a 'rotting' diplomatic foundation
As Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for his third meeting in less than a year with U.S. President Donald Trump, calm seems to prevail in the relationship. This is a dangerous illusion. The sense of stability is breeding complacency on both sides even as pressure builds up under the surface. We may be throwing away our last opening to put the world’s most important bilateral relationship on a solid foundation.
An Alternative View of What’s Next After the Trump-Xi Summit
World / May 26, 2026 An Alternative View of What’s Next After the Trump-Xi Summit Hawkish rhetoric from the national security establishment isn’t grappling with the complex challenges posed by China’s rise.
An Opening for a New US–China Economic Relationship
American leaders have come to accept a one-sided view of China’s economic relationship with the United States, losing sight of the many advantages of economic interaction with China and focusing solely on how to reduce exposure. This skewed response to the challenges of China’s growing economic power is increasingly undermining American economic competitiveness because Chinese businesses are assuming a leading position in a growing number of frontier innovation sectors.
‘Axis of cope’: What happens when they learn all the wrong lessons?
“U.S. Insiders See Iran War Hurting China-Backed ‘Axis of Chaos’” reads the headline in Bloomberg. In the New York Times: “Iran’s Friends Include China and Russia. But Where are They Now?” According to Miles Yu, once Pompeo’s China adviser, “Beijing has worked quietly and methodically to turn Iran into the keystone of its Middle East strategy.
Can Trump finally break with Biden's failed China policy?
As Donald Trump prepares for his long-awaited in-person meeting with Xi Jinping this Thursday, he faces a fateful choice. Will he embrace the machinery of geopolitical confrontation established by his first-term Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then systematized by the Biden administration, pushing the United States and China to a permanent rupture? Or will he chart a new kind of great power peace, defined not by utopian expectations of harmony but instead by wary mutual exploitation?
APEC Summit 2025: What’s at Stake?
From Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, representatives of 21 member countries of Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, will gather in South Korea’s southeastern city of Gyeongju for its annual summit. The APEC summit is a rare multilateral forum where major and developing economies from the East and the West come together to discuss cooperation, and it has played a meaningful facilitating role in promoting shared interests, such as reducing trade barriers and coordinating responses to financial crises.
Preventing Taiwan War: Is Strategic Ambiguity Still Working?
Despite uncertainty in the Trump administration’s China policy, dangerous trends across the Taiwan Strait continue to raise the chance of crisis. Tensions are deepening in the overall U.S.–China relationship, and the credibility of Washington’s One China policy and Beijing’s support for peaceful unification is mutually eroding. While China continues to expand its military capabilities and intimidate Taiwan, the U.S. is keen to mobilize its regional alliances to enhance warfighting against China.
Lawmakers have an antidote for Washington's China panic
In the midst of the U.S. government shutdown and controversy over military deployments in American cities, partisanship in Congress sometimes seems out of control. But legislators of both parties can still set aside their animosities when it comes to hyping conflict with China. On Monday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch introduced his Deter PRC Aggression Against Taiwan Act.
Will a TikTok truce save US-China relations?
On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a framework agreement with He Lifeng, China’s top economic official, to save TikTok despite a 2024 law aimed at banning it from Americans’ phones. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to speak on Friday to finalize the deal.
Will a TikTok truce save US-China relations?
Senate confirms 48 Trump nominees at once, including Kimberly Guilfoyle and Callista Gingrich Republicans this month triggered the "nuclear option," changing Senate rules to confirm nominees en bloc, calling it an attempt to overcome Democratic obstruction. The Senate confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump's nominees in a single vote on Thursday after the Republican majority triggered the …
What did the US and China just agree to exactly?
Following talks in London on Sunday and Monday, the United States and China reached what President Trump called a “deal.” More precisely, as China’s trade representative Li Chenggang put it, the two sides agreed “in principle” to “a framework” that might actually “implement the agreements” the two sides reached last week and last month. This caution among Chinese negotiators reflects the tortuous path they have traveled to simply begin discussions with the Trump administration.
US-China trade war: Escalate to de-escalate to escalate?
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump is considering a significant reduction of the extraordinarily high tariffs on China that followed a dizzying tit-for-tat spiral between the two countries in early April.
Opinion | U.S.-China tariff tensions could turn military disputes into something more dire Original
Facing intense pressure from Wall Street and newly spooked by the alarming drop in the bond market, President Donald Trump largely reversed course on his global trade war Wednesday. But for China — which happens to be the world’s most important trading nation and second most powerful country — Trump massively escalated his punishing tariffs. In the space of a week, Trump threw away an opening for negotiations that could have calmed the dangerous tensions between the United States and China.
U.S.-China tariff tensions could turn military disputes into something more dire
1 hour ago ‘I Think He Means It’: Scott Bessent’s Endgame The Treasury secretary is seen as a moderating influence on President Trump. But he’s on a mission to disrupt government as we know it.
US-China trade war is on: Could it turn violent, and when?
Today Trump suspended his global trade war with all countries except China. This confirms that, even as all eyes were on the chaos in the financial markets, the far bigger threat from Trump’s “liberation day” was a sharp escalation in the US–China conflict that could now plausibly turn violent within the next couple years. Prior to Trump’s “liberation day” the two countries had an unhealthy relationship with steadily building pressures toward conflict.
Could the US and China Conclude an Agreement Halting the Momentum Toward Conflict?
April 3, 2025 Could the US and China Conclude an Agreement Halting the Momentum Toward Conflict? How Trump’s attack on the global order endangers a deal Beijing might otherwise accept. Ad Policy A worker unfurls the American and Chinese flags at the 61st Munich Security Conference on February 15, 2025 in Munich, Germany.(Sean Gallup / Getty Images) An unexpected bright spot in the months following Trump’s election victory was his repeated support for some kind of agreement with China.
PODCAST | The President's Inbox: The China Challenge, With Liza Tobin and Jake Werner (Election 2024, Episode 6)
China A significant proportion of China’s population claims to follow a religion. However, the government continues to toughen oversight, increase persecution of some religions, and attempt to co-opt state-sanctioned religious organizations. Backgrounder by CFR.org Editors May 15, 2024
Warum das US-Verbot für chinesische Autos selbstzerstörerisch ist
USA erwägen Verbot chinesischer Autos. Doch die Maßnahme könnte nach hinten losgehen. Ein Gastbeitrag. Im September hat das US-Handelsministerium eine Verordnung erlassen, die de facto zu einem Verbot aller chinesischen Autos in den USA führen würde.
Warum das US-Verbot für chinesische Autos selbstzerstörerisch ist
USA erwägen Verbot chinesischer Autos. Doch die Maßnahme könnte nach hinten losgehen. Ein Gastbeitrag. Im September hat das US-Handelsministerium eine Verordnung erlassen, die de facto zu einem Verbot aller chinesischen Autos in den USA führen würde.
Banning Chinese cars is dangerous and self-defeating
Ticks are responsible for spreading over 25 human and animal diseases. While you may be familiar with some of these – such as Lyme disease – there …
The Literature of Uyghur Disappearance
The Literature of Uyghur Disappearance Three recent books offer a searing portrait of the calculated brutality of the ongoing Uyghur genocide. ▪ Spring 2024 Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: An Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide by Tahir Hamut Izgil, trans. by Joshua L. Freeman Penguin Press, 2023, 272 pp. The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang by Perhat Tursun, trans. by Darren Byler and Anonymous Columbia University Press, 2022, 168 pp.
Trying to Outflank the GOP on China Is a Mistake
In their debate Tuesday night, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris each sought to cast their opponent as a lackey of China. Bipartisan one-upmanship pushing conflict in the world’s most important geopolitical relationships was a fitting scene to land on “China Week,” House Speaker Mike Johnson’s bid to cast a mishmash of China-related bills as a concerted effort to “win” a confrontation with China.
Trying to Outflank the GOP on China Is a Mistake
The Nation Weekly Fridays. A weekly digest of the best of our coverage. By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You may unsubscribe or adjust your preferences at any time. You can read our Privacy Policy here. China also offers militarists a powerful justification for continuing to push Pentagon spending (and arms industry profits) ever higher.
Can We Compete With China and Avoid War?
The United States and China are gearing up for a battle over who should control the global economy and 21st century technology. But if the U.S. continues on its current path of excluding the Chinese economy entirely, we intensify the risk of a catastrophic military conflict. Watch this excellent video from Senior Video Producer Khody Akhavi, featuring East Asia Director Jake Werner.
A Program for Progressive China Policy
This brief was co-published by the Institute for Policy Studies and Justice is Global. The Quincy Institute works with organizations and individuals across the political spectrum to advance its mission. While this document is expressly oriented toward progressives, we are seeking to build an analogous conservative case for constructive US-China policy. The United States is currently on course for globe-spanning conflict with China.
A New Chinese Exclusion Act
Jake Werner | The Nation - TRANSCEND Media Service Demonizing China allows Republicans to unite around an authoritarian agenda at home—and provides a convenient rationale for unfettered Pentagon profiteering. 5 Jun 2024 – In Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, fear and hatred of China have replaced the interests of big business and free-market dogma as the motive forces in Republican politics. The Chinese exclusion agenda has lent new vitality to the Republican policy program.
A New Chinese Exclusion Act
Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed the article you just read. It’s just one of the many deeply-reported and boundary-pushing stories we publish everyday at The Nation. In a time of continued erosion of our fundamental rights and urgent global struggles for peace, independent journalism is now more vital than ever. As a Nation reader, you are likely an engaged progressive who is passionate about bold ideas. I know I can count on you to help sustain our mission-driven journalism.
Banning TikTok Won't Fix America
Washington’s latest efforts to ban TikTok are symptomatic of a deep dysfunction in thinking about China. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill now rapidly moving through Congress that would expropriate TikTok, does not address the core concerns that many Americans share about social media apps like TikTok, such as the loss of privacy and lack of protections for personal data, the targeting of children, or the addictive nature of social media.
This TikTok bill won't fix what is ailing American society
Washington’s latest efforts to ban TikTok are symptomatic of a deep dysfunction in thinking about China. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill now rapidly moving through Congress that would expropriate TikTok, does not address the core concerns that many Americans share about social media apps like TikTok, such as the loss of privacy and lack of protections for personal data, the targeting of children, or the addictive nature of social media.
Outrage Without Strategy Means Failure on China and Human Rights
The deplorable human rights record of the Chinese government has long featured in U.S. political discourse as an example of that venerable trope, the heroic individual demanding freedom from the tyrannical state. U.S. leaders quite naturally align themselves with the advocates of freedom, coming to their aid by repudiating and punishing their tormentors. The antagonism between civil society and the state highlighted in this view is undeniably true, but this truth is only partial.
Xi and Biden Must Overcome the Hawks to Forge a New U.S.–China Relationship - Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
As President Joe Biden prepares for his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, he faces an epochal choice. Will the U.S. government bow before belligerent demands for intensifying confrontation and exclusion, or will it seek to deepen the recent diplomatic opening between the two countries?
Xi and Biden Must Forge a New U.S.-China Relationship
Ideas November 14, 2023 6:00 AM EST Werner is the Acting Director of Quincy Institute’s East Asia program As President Joe Biden prepares for his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, he faces an epochal choice. Will the U.S. government bow before belligerent demands for intensifying confrontation and exclusion, or will it seek to deepen the recent diplomatic opening between the two countries?
Supply-Side Liberals Keep Peddling the Fossil Fuel Fix
“As long as they can get away with it, they will continue to invest in fossil fuels,” climate activist Greta Thunberg warned earlier this year. “They will continue to throw people under the bus.” Despite the vast logistical and technological challenges involved in transitioning to a truly green, climate-preserving economy, it has one undeniable sine qua non: society needs to get off of fossil fuels. It’s a mandate so simple and straightforward that no neoliberal policy wonk can swallow it.
La visita del gobernador Newsom a China muestra el potencial de una política exterior progresista y sofisticada
Necesitamos un diálogo inteligente, no una confrontación cruda. Política publicitaria La controversia en torno al viaje del gobernador de California, Gavin Newsom, a China la semana pasada ilustra un problema espinoso para la política progresista. La oficina de Newsom presentó el viaje como centrado en la cooperación climática.
Governor Newsom’s Visit to China Shows the Potential for a Sophisticated, Progressive Foreign Policy
World / We need intelligent dialogue, not crude confrontation. Ad Policy The controversy around California Governor Gavin Newsom’s trip to China last week illustrates a knotty problem for progressive politics. Newsom’s office pitched the trip as focused on climate cooperation. Seeming to sideline the points of tension between the United States and China—particularly the Chinese government’s deplorable human rights record—created an immediate backlash within the human rights community.
Exclusion is Driving the U.S. and China Toward War — but Common Good Diplomacy Can Thwart Disaster - Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Direct conflict between the U.S. and China is inevitable unless the relationship between Washington and Beijing changes course, according to new research released by the Quincy Institute’s East Asia program Research Fellow Jake Werner.
Competition Versus Exclusion in U.S.–China Relations: A Choice Between Stability and Conflict - Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
The Biden administration’s China policy is pulling in two different directions, but the tension is not widely recognized because every antagonistic measure aimed at China is filed under the heading of competition. As a result, Washington’s debate on China loses the crucial distinction between “competition” — a kind of connection with the potential to be carried on in healthy ways — and “exclusion,” an attempt to sever connection that necessarily leads to conflict if the domain is significant.
Common Good Diplomacy: A Framework for Stable U.S.–China Relations - Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
One curious feature of the emerging U.S.–China conflict is that each side claims to be defending the existing international order against the threat the other poses to it. Hidden beneath this seemingly irreconcilable dispute is a crucial truth: both the United States and China are status quo powers, sharing a deep interest in a stable global security environment and an open global economy.
OECD Secretly Lobbied Against Law Requiring Corporations to Disclose Tax Records
The Financial Times confirmed Friday that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lobbied Australia to weaken a law that would have compelled about 2,500 highly profitable multinational corporations to reveal where they pay taxes, eliciting outrage from tax justice advocates.
US Treasury Secretary Visits China Amid Rising Economic Tensions
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing, currently underway, is just as important as Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s higher profile visit last month. She will be searching for ways to stabilize badly damaged economic relations threatening harm to all sides.
Yellen visits China amid worst economic tension in decades
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing, currently underway, is just as important as Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s higher profile visit last month. She will be searching for ways to stabilize badly damaged economic relations threatening harm to all sides.
The Council On Foreign Relations Is Begging For War With China
A new study from the Council on Foreign Relations on US Taiwan policy is both dangerous and misleading. by Michael D. Swaine, Jake Werner and James Park, Responsible Statecraft Given its broad membership and prestigious leadership, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is generally considered to be the flagship foreign policy think tank in the United States, reflecting the judicious, mainstream views of America’s foreign policy establishment.
Reckless Report Could Increase the Chance of a Crisis With China
A new study from the Council on Foreign Relations on U.S. Taiwan policy is both dangerous and misleading. Given its broad membership and prestigious leadership, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is generally considered to be the flagship foreign policy think tank in the United States, reflecting the judicious, mainstream views of America’s foreign policy establishment. Read Full Article »
Antony Blinken, Make Peace With China
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing this weekend offers the best chance for the United States and China to restore stable diplomatic relations since the dustup over a Chinese spy balloon upended his first scheduled visit in February. But it will require more than just diplomatic niceties to overcome the fundamental dysfunction in the relationship between the world’s leading powers.
Antony Blinken, Make Peace With China
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing this weekend offers the best chance for the United States and China to restore stable diplomatic relations since the dustup over a Chinese spy balloon upended his first scheduled visit in February. But it will require more than just diplomatic niceties to overcome the fundamental dysfunction in the relationship between the world’s leading powers.
Für Frieden in der Ukraine: USA können mit China zusammenarbeiten
Für Frieden in der Ukraine: USA können mit China zusammenarbeiten Ist Washington bereit, Beijing eine größere Rolle in der Ukraine einzuräumen? Auf einer Seite lesen Ändert Washington den Kurs und setzt gegenüber Beijing auf Diplomatie? Die Hürden dafür sind hoch, aber sie können überwunden werden. Was auf dem Spiel steht.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Jake
Contact Jake, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack