During the past decade, national-level U.S. policy toward China has veered from engagement to confrontation. State-level relations with China, however, have not always followed suit. In this program, Kyle Jaros will discuss variation in state-level U.S.-China relations and explore the drivers of subnational cooperation and confrontation. The study draws on an original dataset of state-level policy actions toward China between 2012-2023 and a detailed case study of Indiana, a state that has exemplified "contested engagement" with China in recent years. This research helps illuminate an understudied aspect of the contemporary US-China relationship, and improves our understanding of the dynamics of subnational foreign relations in times of international tension.

Kyle A. Jaros is associate professor of global affairs in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. He is a faculty fellow of the Keough School’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and the Pulte Institute for Global Development. Jaros’s research explores the politics of urban and regional development, intergovernmental relations, and subnational foreign engagement with a focus on China. He is the author of China’s Urban Champions: The Politics of Spatial Development.

This program is presented by the USC Annenberg Public Diplomacy Program, as part of the “Public Diplomacy Next” series, which explores the future of international engagement through interdisciplinary studies. It is co-sponsored by the USC U.S.-China Institute.

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