China’s GDP is projected to reach $25.83 trillion USD in 2030, as it continues to grow at a faster rate than the United States’. China’s role in the global economy has shifted from “The World’s Factory” to a technological and economic powerhouse. Yet, China’s economy operates differently than Western ones – raising questions of how these divergent economic models will either coexist or clash. How is China protecting and promoting its position in the global economy, and how is the United States dealing with its economic rival?
Ka Zeng joined us in June 2025 to discuss how China acts in global economic institutions amid economic competition with the United States.
Ka Zeng
Ka Zeng’s research focuses on China’s role in the global economy, in particular Chinese trade policy, China’s behavior in global economic governance, and China-related trade dispute dynamics. Dr. Zeng is the author or co-author of Trade Threats, Trade Wars (Michigan, 2004), Greening China (Michigan, 2011) and Fragmenting Globalization(Michigan, 2021). She is also the editor or co-editor of China’s Foreign Trade Policy (Routledge, 2007), China and Global Trade Governance (Routledge, 2013), Handbook on the International Political Economy of China (Edward Elgar, 2019), the Research Handbook on Trade Wars (Edward Elgar, 2022), and China and the WTO (Cambridge, 2023). She is a contributor to journals such as International Studies Quarterly, Review of International Organizations, Review of International Political Economy, World Development, Economics & Politics, Business and Politics, Journal of Experimental Political Science, Journal of World Trade, International Interactions, China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, Social Science Quarterly, Chinese Journal of International Politics, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Pacific Affairs, and China & World Economy. Dr. Zeng is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations. She is also a fellow in cohort V of the Public Intellectuals Program.