US think tank survey finds majority of Americans say US should undertake friendly cooperation and engagement with China, a sharp reversal from 2024

A majority of Americans now favor a policy of cooperation and engagement with China, oppose higher tariffs, and oppose cuts to bilateral trade, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, an American international affairs think tank.

The 2025 Chicago Council Survey, fielded July 18 to 30, finds that the bipartisan embrace of US-China competition no longer holds among the public, with partisan differences in perceived threats from China and disagreements on current US-China trade policy, according to results published on the Chicago Council on Global Affairs website.

The survey showed that in a sharp reversal from 2024, a majority of Americans (53 percent) now say the US should undertake friendly cooperation and engagement with China, while 44 percent prefer a policy of actively limiting the growth of China's power. "This is the first time since 2019 that a majority of Americans have preferred a policy of cooperation and engagement with China," according to the survey.

The survey also finds that Americans are less likely to view China's development as a world power to pose a critical threat to the US today than in 2023. But it also noted that American attitudes on US-China trade and its effect on US national security have gone through dramatic changes in the past six years. In 2019, 64 percent of Americans believed trade between the two nations did more to strengthen US national security than weaken it. Today, opinions are almost evenly divided, with 48 percent saying US-China trade weakens and 47 percent saying it strengthens US national security.

The survey also noted that public support for policies aimed at decoupling the US and China—whether via trade, technology, or people-to-people ties—has declined in recent years. Today, a majority of Americans oppose greater reductions on trade, higher tariffs, or restrictions on Chinese students. But this is not true across partisan lines. "Divergences between Republicans and Democrats on US-China policy are greater now than in recent years, across different issue areas," said the survey.

Despite widespread disagreements between partisans on the threat posed by China, how to approach US-China relations, and specific US-China policies, Americans remain united in their top priorities: avoiding conflict and maintaining the US edge in high technology, according to the survey.

The survey concluded that since 2017, US-China relations have been dominated by the framework of great power competition. But today, that bipartisan consensus no longer seems to hold among the American public. Republicans and Democrats now hold distinctly different views on a range of China-related questions.

"This shift in public attitudes may disquiet some Democrats in Congress, especially those who have focused on competition with China as a key part of their political agenda, and may boost support for those who have argued for a more diplomacy-forward approach to Beijing. At the same time, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress can look to their supporters and see broad approval for policy continuity and a continued tariff-heavy approach," according to the survey.