Why Should We Care if China Won’t Restrain its Flood of Exports? | with Wendy Cutler

China posted a record $1.2 trillion global trade surplus in 2025, and its export machine is still accelerating. From electric vehicles and batteries to electronics and household goods, Chinese products are pouring into markets across Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.Consumers may welcome better products at lower prices, but what happens when local manufacturers cannot compete, workers lose their jobs, and countries become dependent on Beijing for essential goods?This week, co-hosts Ray Powell and Jim Carouso welcome Wendy Cutler, Senior Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former U.S. trade negotiator who spent nearly three decades at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.Wendy explains how government support allows Chinese companies to keep producing even when markets are saturated. Beijing rejects the idea that it has an overcapacity problem, and Wendy argues that negotiations cannot succeed when the two sides cannot even agree that a problem exists. Her solution is a coordinated response by the major economies receiving these exports.In this episode:How China’s industrial policies help its companies outlast foreign competitorsWhy U.S. tariffs redirected Chinese exports toward Europe and Southeast Asia instead of slowing them downHow cheap imports can destroy local businesses, eliminate jobs, and create dangerous dependenciesWhy the U.S., Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia and Southeast Asia must act together to change Beijing’s calculationsHow China weaponizes its control of critical minerals, rare earths, and permanent magnetsWhy Washington’s tariffs against allies could undermine the coalition it needsHow developing economies can defend local industries without losing access to the Chinese marketWhether the fragile U.S.-China trade truce can survive as both sides test its limitsWhy today’s low prices could become tomorrow’s strategic vulnerabilitiesWendy’s candid reflections on three decades at the negotiating tableSubscribe for your weekly Indo-Pacific briefing.Follow Wendy Cutler on at the Asia Society Policy Institute, on LinkedIn or on X, @wendyscutlerFollow us on X, @IndoPacPodcast, LinkedIn or FacebookFollow Ray Powell on X, @GordianKnotRay, or LinkedIn, or check out his maritime transparency work at SeaLightFollow Jim Carouso on LinkedInSponsored by BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Indo-Pacific