When it comes to China and the United States, Leon Panetta doesn’t beat around the bush.

The former U.S. Secretary of Defense says the relationship between the world’s major superpowers is in a tense period – fraught with mistrust and complicated by geopolitical issues.

Jonathan Isaacson and Leon Panetta

Still, Panetta, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) too, also believes it’s in the best interest of both China and the U.S. – and the world more broadly – to open real dialog and improve the relationship.

Beijing knows this too, he says. And that’s partly why Panetta believes better days may eventually lie ahead. That could benefit the economies of both nations, as well as likely the North American promo products industry, which relies on factories in China to manufacture the majority of the goods it sells domestically.

“We’ve been through this with other countries,” Panetta says. “Sometimes things get worse before they get better.”

Watch the Gemline webinar.

Panetta was speaking to an audience of promotional products professionals on a webinar hosted by Top 40 supplier Gemline’s (asi/56070) Executive Chair Jonathan Isaacson, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in promo.

Gemline organized the March 8 webinar – “Outside In: A Conversation With Former Defense Secretary and CIA Chief Leon Panetta” – to help promo pros understand ongoing global events and their potential impacts.

While Panetta believes China and the U.S. have mutual interest in improving their relationship, he also states unequivocally that China remains the United States’ preeminent competitor and adversary in the 21^st century. That’s why, he says, it’s pivotal that as the U.S. dialogs with China, it does so from a position of strength.

That strength is established, in part, through continuing to have the strongest military in the world and through strategic diplomacy and alliance-building with other friendly nations, especially those in the Asia-Pacific.

“We can’t deal with (China President Xi Jinping) from a position of weakness,” Panetta says. “We should be able to walk both paths: Be strong. Make clear there are lines that should not cross. But also, open up lines of communication.”

Panetta opines that if the U.S.-China relationship does improve, then there could be significant economic opportunity in China for companies that have business interests there.

Engaging and candid throughout the webinar, Panetta also spoke about Russia’s war in Ukraine, touched on the many “flashpoints” facing the world, and shared about his own beginnings as the son of immigrants from Italy.

Additionally, he emphasized that it’s within the power of everyday Americans and societal leaders to decide whether the U.S. wants to be a nation in decline or a nation ready to enter a new Renaissance. He believes the latter is possible. And for both this country and the rest of the world, it’s essential that America works to make that Renaissance a reality.

“It’s absolutely critical that the U.S. be able to provide strong world leadership,” Panetta says. “If we don’t, no one else will.”