SUN Mingyang
In recent years, the growing imperative of global climate governance has elevated energy transition to a central issue within the international community. As the world’s largest developing and developed countries, China and the United States have engaged in multi-level cooperation on clean energy, although the process has been marked by significant complexity and fluctuation. The bilateral relationship has evolved through several distinct phases: initial technical exchanges under the Kyoto Protocol framework (2000–2008), a period of deep cooperation often referred to as the “golden era” during the Obama administration (2009–2016), heightened strategic competition and policy volatility during the Trump administration (2017–2020), a dual narrative of competition and cooperation under the Biden administration (2021–2024), and the emergence of a potential new configuration in the context of the Trump 2.0 administration (since 2024). This historical trajectory has been shaped by three principal driving forces: the shared obligation to address global climate change, dynamics of competition and collaboration within the green economy, and the interplay of geopolitical considerations and energy security imperatives.These factors collectively influence the continuity and instability of Sino-U.S. clean energy relations, presenting both challenges and opportunities for future global climate actions.
