The behind-the-scenes story of America's chaotic, high-stakes confrontation with Beijing, from an award-winning *Washington Post* columnist and peerless observer of the U.S.-China relationship. The war began as soon as Donald Trump won the presidency. In an attempt to shape the president-elect's stance toward China, Henry Kissinger began arranging secret meetings between incoming officials and Chinese leaders. Soon, factions in the new administration were battling to shape the U.S. strategy toward China, and with it the future of the most important relationship of the 21st century. The resulting chaos would not only lead Washington and Beijing into a trade war that would reshape international economics and push the two countries to the brink of a Cold War. It also would bring to a boil the long-simmering rivalry between Washington and Beijing, and force a reckoning over China's audacious influence operations within the United States --a competition between