Across the political spectrum there seems to be a consensus that the decadeslong free flow of trade, money and technology from the U.S. to China must be fundamentally overhauled, but several lawmakers involved in the effort are confronting the difficulty of an overhaul that doesn’t sever economic ties between the two countries.
From the recent episode of a Chinese spy balloon traversing the U.S. to long-standing issues of Beijing’s cyberattacks and bellicose actions toward Taiwan and across the South China Sea, as well as China’s military buildup, members of Congress cite many reasons to reduce U.S. dependence on China in critical areas by restoring domestic capacities, even as they seek to maintain the status quo in others.
“There are certain areas that meet the test of national security as well as issues that the American people care about … [including] semiconductors, large-capacity batteries that have to do with electric vehicles, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, but also pharmaceutical ingredients, automobile manufacturing,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee.
“We are not putting a Great Wall of China against China,” DeLauro said in an interview. “What we are trying to do is safeguard our own domestic market and safeguard our national security.”
Getting legislative agreement, however, could still prove a challenge. DeLauro’s proposal to screen and restrict U.S. capital flowing into key tech sectors in China passed the House but not the Senate in the last Congress. And an effort to tighten restrictions on high-tech exports while leaving others to fend for themselves may cause some lawmakers to balk.
