Former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged Washington and Beijing to manage their escalating strategic competition, warning that deepening distrust poses a greater risk than trade imbalances and could lead to broader conflict.

Former US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson has urged Washington and Beijing to manage their escalating strategic competition to prevent it spiralling into broader conflict, warning that deepening distrust now poses a greater risk than trade imbalances. The US-China relationship was “the most consequential” in the world, requiring careful stewardship as rivalry sharpened across trade, technology and security, he said. “We have to be careful that the decoupling does not become...