China was the world’s leading producer in seven of the 10 industries in 2020 covered by an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) report released on Wednesday.
This is such an endless routine in US trade policy.
I remember when Trump tried to sanction Chinese imports, and they responded by ending the purchase of Iowa pork and soybeans. China insourced agricultural development of pork and consumption of domestic produce while Iowa farmers took enormous losses on their excess and watched their consumer goods products skyrocket.
Then we coerced Australia to stop selling China surplus coal, thinking it would deaden Chinese industry and facilitate a global shift to India and the Pacific Islands. Instead, China pivots to nuclear/renewables while Australians get stuck with enormous unsaleable coal surpluses.
Now we’re denying them access to high end silicon chips and printers, thinking it’ll cut back Chinese advances in cars, advanced computers, and weapons systems. Instead… well… Here we are.
So much of this isn’t simply because China is big and their industries are fluid. It is because western capital and infrastructure is utterly stagnant. We simply refuse to invest in technology more modern than the mid-'00s. Everything we’re building is just stacks-on-stacks of old hardware. Its like that Ayn Rand novel, Anthem. Capitalists reject the light bulb because it’ll cut into their system of manufacturing candles.
This is such an endless routine in US trade policy.
I remember when Trump tried to sanction Chinese imports, and they responded by ending the purchase of Iowa pork and soybeans. China insourced agricultural development of pork and consumption of domestic produce while Iowa farmers took enormous losses on their excess and watched their consumer goods products skyrocket.
Then we coerced Australia to stop selling China surplus coal, thinking it would deaden Chinese industry and facilitate a global shift to India and the Pacific Islands. Instead, China pivots to nuclear/renewables while Australians get stuck with enormous unsaleable coal surpluses.
Now we’re denying them access to high end silicon chips and printers, thinking it’ll cut back Chinese advances in cars, advanced computers, and weapons systems. Instead… well… Here we are.
So much of this isn’t simply because China is big and their industries are fluid. It is because western capital and infrastructure is utterly stagnant. We simply refuse to invest in technology more modern than the mid-'00s. Everything we’re building is just stacks-on-stacks of old hardware. Its like that Ayn Rand novel, Anthem. Capitalists reject the light bulb because it’ll cut into their system of manufacturing candles.
this is a good read on the dynamics and selections pressures of financial capitalism that necessitate things be this way https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/08/the-value-of-nothing-capital-versus-growth/