Many business leaders in the United States are worried by the aggressive efforts by China to become a superpower in the tech industry. These worries have been exacerbated by the recent trade wars between Washington and Beijing. However, commerce experts have said that the American government needs to improvise a smarter response to the crisis. In the course of the week, US President Trump is expected to send his leading trade and economy advisers to Beijing for talks regarding the trade dispute between the two countries. The US president had threatened to impose trade tariffs worth billions of dollars to chines steel, aluminum and other commodities.
China also responded by saying that it would subject additional tariffs to American imports. Washington has said that it’s taking action against Beijing because of policies that have allowed companies from China to get sensitive technology from US firms through unfair means. The primary concern of the US government is the ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative. The initiative is a plan by the Chinese government to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into industries that focus on technology. These industries include computing, electric cars, artificial intelligence and machine learning models. China is making this substantial investment to become the global leader in technology.
The tariffs that have been proposed by the Trump administration are targeting most of the products that have been linked to the 2025 initiative. Trade and economic policy analysts have said that the planned tariffs by Washington may not make any significant difference. One of the experts, James Lewis, has noted that the plan by Washington to slow down the tech development in China is not a well-calculated goal. Lewis has however said that the US government should concentrate on getting Chinese companies to play by the same trade rules as everyone else in the global economy.
Other experts have said that the United States and her allies do not have the clout to impose the proposed tariffs on Beijing. Researchers and tech firms from China will need the access to American and European markets so they can advance. Lewis added that the relationship between the United States and China is so interwoven and deep that it becomes hard to break. Lewis, however, said that China remains a subordinate partner in the relationship.
