After a volatile 12 months, hopes grow for more rational US-China relations There is no simple way to sum up relations between China and the United States in 2020. It is safe to say they have been tumultuous, fraught with inflammatory rhetoric, and laden with back-and-forth sanctions. But the relationship also holds hope. The "most consequential" bilateral relationship in the world seems to have reached the bottom of the valley, from where every step to be taken may lead back to the mountain top, so hoped senior China hands in Washington and beyond, as they look at 2020 in retrospect. The year started with a promising note for Beijing and Washington with the signing of a historic Phase One trade deal on Jan 15 that capped 18 months of conflict between the world's two largest economies.