THEO VAN GOGH Top of the Agenda: FORGET ABOUT FREE WORLD TRADE! / A GREAT RESET!

 

U.S. House Hearing Showcases Bipartisan Commitment to Countering China

 

1-3-23 – A new U.S. House of Representatives committee on China held its inaugural hearing last night, with committee Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) describing U.S.-China competition as “an existential struggle” (Reuters). The top Democrat on the committee, Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, said Democrats and Republicans had both underestimated the ruling Chinese Communist Party in recent decades. Earlier in the day, the House Financial Services Committee greenlit multiple China-related sanctions bills (Bloomberg), moving them toward a likely floor vote.

The committee was created (AP) in January after a 365-65 congressional vote. It is intended to rally support for selectively decoupling the U.S. and Chinese economies and draw attention to Beijing’s human rights abuses. Speeches in yesterday’s hearing also stressed the need to counter increased anti-Asian hate crimes. Some Democrat lawmakers had expressed concerns that the committee could fuel anti-Asian sentiment.

Analysis
“For Washingtonians, full-throated rivalry [with China] has been part of a larger bid to stitch the country together after the Trump years, and to work within the constraints of a Republican opposition whose hawkishness on China has shown no limits. US politics encourages both China threat inflation and political outbidding (who can look tougher on China),” Victoria University of Wellington’s Van Jackson writes for the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

 

“Washington’s approach to its growing tech rivalry with China risks repeating the mistakes it made in the solar industry, with U.S. scientists laying the foundation for a new technology only to see Chinese firms take the lead in building it,” Dan Wang of research firm Gavekal Dragonomics writes for Foreign Affairs. “To avoid repeating the solar story, the United States will have to give greater priority to advanced manufacturing.”

 

This Backgrounder unpacks the contentious U.S.-China trade relationship.