On November 7, 2018, the US midterm elections results came through with Democrats winning control of the House of Representatives, while Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate. What challenges will a divided government bring to China-US relations, and what opportunities lay in waiting for the two countries?

On November 8, the SIAS held a seminar on China-US relations after the midterm elections. Academics from local universities and institutions attended the meeting, these included Song Guoyou, Deputy Director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, Qiao Yide, Secretary General of the Shanghai Development Research Foundation, Xu Mingqi, research fellow at the Institute of World Economy at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), Yao Weiqun, vice-president of the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center and distinguished professor of Applied Economics at the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Zhang Jiansong, chief reporter at Xinhua News Agency Shanghai Bureau, Xue Lei, research fellow at the Institute for World Economy Studies of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) and Chen Jiajun, who is a member of the SIAS research staff.

Those whom participated looked into the midterm elections results, the China-US trade dispute and the interactions between both presidents of the two countries, among other issues. Wang Zhan, president of the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations (SFSSA) and adviser to the China Top Think Tanks Program at the SASS, shared his insights on these issues.