EVENTS

In 2025 the U.S.-China relationship entered a volatile cycle of crisis, reset, and renewed escalation, marked by U.S. tariffs and Chinese export controls on critical raw materials. These cycles have put the bilateral relationship on an increasingly escalatory path. In addition to direct confrontation with China, the Trump administration has pressured other trade partners to align with the U.S. on a range of economic security measures, with China in focus. Recent trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia, require both countries to mirror U.S. export controls and investment security policies, address unfair practices by third-country companies, and impose restrictive measures of “equivalent effect” to U.S. policies. These measures coupled with the tariff reductions the U.S. is offering to such “aligned partners,” are designed to push critical supply chains out of China, an objective made more urgent by Beijing’s increased willingness to weaponise supply chain dependencies. Against this backdrop this Wednesday Seminar presentation will examine the outlook for the U.S.-China relations in 2026, assess U.S. efforts to secure critical supply chains with aligned partners, and discuss the implications for India.

Speaker

Lauren Piper is a Senior Analyst at Rhodium Group where her work focuses on trade and supply chain de-risking. She is currently a Motwani Jadeja Fellow at O.P. Jindal Global University. Previously, Lauren was a Research Associate at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Research Assistant at the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. She was also a Harold W. Rosenthal Fellow at the Office of the US Trade Representative in the Office of South and Central Asian Affairs. She holds a Master degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in international studies from American University. She is typically based in Washington, D.C.

Chair

Santosh Pai is a dual-qualified cross-border lawyer offering legal services to clients within the India-China corridor. He holds a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) degree from NLSIU, Bangalore, LL.M. (Chinese law) from Tsinghua University, Beijing and an MBA from Vlerick University, Belgium. He is currently a partner at Dentons Link Legal, an Indian law firm. He is a member of CII's Core Group on China, and Treasurer and Member of the Governing Council at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. His major research interests include India-China economic ties, comparative law and policy, and cross-cultural negotiations. Decoding China: Hard Perspectives from India(Bloomsbury India, 2025) and China: Indian Perspectives on China’s Politics, Economy, and Foreign Relations (The Hindu Group, 2025) are his recent publications. His manuscripts Practical Guide on Investing in India for Chinese investors (China Law Press, 2017), Indian Company Law (China Law Press, 2019), Arbitration Law and Practice in India (China Legal Publishing House, 2021), and Legal Guide for Taiwanese Investors in India (Yuan Zhao, 2023) have been translated and published in Chinese. He has co-edited Chinese Legal System (1979-2021), Historical Development and Overview in English (EBC, 2021) and co-authored “Institutional Distances and Economic Engagement Between India and China” (China Report, Volume 53 Issue 2).

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