Dispatches from The Ruins of Engagement
My name is Timothy Brantingham. I am an American born in Taiwan: my parents were missionaries. I spent 20-years in Taipei, 8-years in Shanghai, and another 18-years in Hong Kong. My entire career has been a churning in the gears of the U.S.–China trade relationship. I’ve worked on iron and steel supply chains (with actual grease in my fingernails); I’ve set up international joint ventures; I’ve directed investment to both the US and China, from both the US and China.
Through it all, my main task was translating trust between two very different civilizations. In the old days, we called this work engagement.
That’s when trade was supposed to be good. It was not just about making money and lowering prices; it was about raising hundreds of millions out of poverty, and ensuring peace and welfare through mutual understanding and mutual benefit.
I guess we were wrong. Or at least, that’s what those in power are telling us.
Today, the bridges I helped build are on fire. Hawks in Washington call for decoupling. Nationalists on both shores warn of an inevitable clash of civilizations—East vs West, Capitalism vs Communism, YouTube vs TikTok—and we are told we better have the guns ready.
I thought of myself as a China Hand. It seems I am now a China Heel, a naive cultural engager, sent down intellectually, reputationally by today’s New Nationalists for re-education.
Let this newsletter be my feeble defense. These are dispatches from the ruins of engagement. I ask the jury a chance to tell you what we built, what we’re losing, and what might still be built again.
You may convict me after.
What to Expect Here
Each twice-weekly post will offer:
- First-hand stories from the front lines of trade and manufacturing.
- Reflections on historical U.S.–China ties, from missionaries to McDonalds, from John Service to semiconductors.
- Sharp commentary on the ideology driving today’s de-globalization.
- Occasional humor (or attempts at it), reluctant hope, and grim realism.
Who This Is For
- This is for the businessperson trying to make sense of a fractured supply chain.
- For students of history wondering how globalization went up, then came crashing down.
- For the gun-shy policymaker with a little international empathy still left in the soul.
- For the former 3rd Culture Kid (missionary, business, foreign service, military), the bi-cultural factory liaison, the international bridge-builder turned exile.
Welcome to The Re-Education of Trade.