The Aspen Institute

The 2025 Great Decisions series is now at capacity. Please contact Ari Mizrahi at ari.mizrahi@aspeninstitute.org if you would like to add your name to our waitlist.

In this eight-week series, participants gather to discuss key foreign policy issues facing the world today. Led by volunteer moderators, participants will engage in moderated discussions with their fellow citizens. This year’s topics will include American Foreign Policy at a Crossroads, U.S.-China Relations, Middle East Policy, Climate Change, The Future of NATO, Artificial Intelligence, India, and a Series Recap. This year’s series will be held in person at the Aspen Meadows.

January 23 – U.S.-China Relations & Changing Leadership of the World Economy
Washington’s relations with Beijing have reached an ominous low ebb. Both American political parties have identified China as the country’s preeminent geopolitical challenger and, in the eyes of many, a systemic threat. What is driving this deterioration of Sino-American relations, and what are America’s strategic options in the face of Chinese power and ambition? Under President Biden, the U.S. has advanced new ideas about trade, technology, industrial policy, competition with China, and the organization of the world economy. For most of the postwar era, the U.S. has tied its global leadership to cooperative agendas aimed at creating a more open world trading system, but that has apparently come to an end. What are America’s options and opportunities as a leader of the world economy? How will America’s “foreign policy for the middle class” and strategic competition with China impact its leadership role? How can the postwar rules and institutions of the world economy be made safe for economic nationalism and great power competition?

Thursdays from 6:00-8:00 p.m. beginning Thursday, January 16, running through Thursday, March 6 in the Koch Building at the Aspen Institute.

*Topics and the dates they are presented are subject to change.