Toward a New Transatlantic China Policy: Views from German Parliamentarians

China increasingly dominates American foreign policy thinking and has moved to the top of the political agenda in Germany and the European Union (EU). While the administrations in Berlin, Brussels, and Washington seek new areas of policy coordination, American and German parliamentarians are bringing renewed focus on China to legislative debates that will have significant impact for the U.S., Germany, and the EU. In the German Bundestag, lawmakers across party lines are increasingly questioning the German government’s China policy and demanding a more critical approach. A number of American and German parliamentarians were also instrumental in creating the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international cross-party group of legislators. Together, U.S. and German parliamentarians will be instrumental in transatlantic cooperation on issues ranging from human rights to digital security vis-à-vis China.