2018-05-02

Trade War: USA Opposes China's Industrial Policy

Nikkei Asian Review: Team Trump seeks to roll back 'Made in China 2025'
China has presented the Trump administration with plans to boost aircraft, semiconductor and natural gas imports in response to American demands that the country reduce its trade surplus with the U.S. by $100 billion, according to the sources. Beijing is working to open its automotive and financial sectors further as well.

But trade frictions between the U.S. and China go even deeper. Washington's greatest concern involves "Made in China 2025," a senior White House official said, referring to Xi's plan for building up 10 key areas of China's manufacturing sector. They include industrial robots and semiconductors, an area in which China seeks to challenge the likes of Intel and Samsung.

"China increasingly threatens to dominate the industries of the future: artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, blockchain systems, robotics, high-tech ship manufacturing and more," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro wrote in the Wall Street Journal last month. "Death by China" author Navarro, who thinks the country's rise in high-tech manufacturing could lead to a military clash, was an influential voice behind the tariffs in response to alleged Chinese intellectual property abuses.
Navarro will accompany Mnuchin and the others to China this week. The U.S. wants Beijing to scrap the Made in China 2025 plan, a diplomatic source said.
If the U.S. doesn't budge on this point, a serious trade conflict is on the way.

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