Back in 2005, US economist Fred Bergsten coined the term “Group of 2” or “G2”, proposing a stronger partnership between what are now the world’s two largest economies – the United States and China.
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis a few years later, economic cooperation between these two countries briefly seemed to attest to the success of efforts at integrating China into a liberal...
The emergence of a G2 focused on strategic, bilateral bargaining, rather than multilateral rules-based order, signals a profound shift in global economic governance. The focus on strategic technologies like chips and rare earths, framed as national security constraints, indicates that cooperation is less about economic liberalization and more about establishing spheres of influence among great powers. This pattern echoes historical approaches, suggesting that the present G2 structure operates ou...