Thank you for writing a nuanced and thoughtful piece on this! I feel very aligned with what you said and thankful to see this position articulated in writing so well. But I do have some questions / wonderings / thoughts in this direction!
I like the framing of "whining" re: our rhetoric towards China. Personally, I think it also extends to the TikTok ban conversation. We where all "competition and freedom of speech" when China was banning Facebook and Google despite their citizens wanting to use them, but, as soon as a Chinese company kicks the ass of Americans to dominate the next gen social media platform, we get all whiney and defensive.
To me, it does feel like the Biden admin is stuck in a Cold War framing, with spheres of influence and an iron curtain across the South China Sea. I just feel like we're fighting old battles, not focused on the next horizons. Your point about advanced economies still needing manufacturing is interesting and new to me, and makes a lot of sense. But why do we still need it to be car manufacturing? We already lost the opportunity to lead on EVs, batteries, etc. Why not buy cheap EVs from China to reduce GHGs ASAP, and focus US industrial policy on stuff we are still the best at? Aerospace, biotech, next-gen materials / chemicals, agtech, etc?
The tariffs just feel a un-creative to me, like trying to re-build the Rust Belt to 1960s levels, just this time EVs. And it feels intuitive that we'd decarbonize more quickly without protectionist policies? But maybe I'm missing something there.
Thank you for writing a nuanced and thoughtful piece on this! I feel very aligned with what you said and thankful to see this position articulated in writing so well. But I do have some questions / wonderings / thoughts in this direction!
I like the framing of "whining" re: our rhetoric towards China. Personally, I think it also extends to the TikTok ban conversation. We where all "competition and freedom of speech" when China was banning Facebook and Google despite their citizens wanting to use them, but, as soon as a Chinese company kicks the ass of Americans to dominate the next gen social media platform, we get all whiney and defensive.
To me, it does feel like the Biden admin is stuck in a Cold War framing, with spheres of influence and an iron curtain across the South China Sea. I just feel like we're fighting old battles, not focused on the next horizons. Your point about advanced economies still needing manufacturing is interesting and new to me, and makes a lot of sense. But why do we still need it to be car manufacturing? We already lost the opportunity to lead on EVs, batteries, etc. Why not buy cheap EVs from China to reduce GHGs ASAP, and focus US industrial policy on stuff we are still the best at? Aerospace, biotech, next-gen materials / chemicals, agtech, etc?
The tariffs just feel a un-creative to me, like trying to re-build the Rust Belt to 1960s levels, just this time EVs. And it feels intuitive that we'd decarbonize more quickly without protectionist policies? But maybe I'm missing something there.
Anyways, thanks again for writing this!