Biden-Harris administration intensifies economic war against China

The Biden administration dramatically escalated its high-tech economic war against China, with the Commerce Department announcing on Monday that it would ban the use of Chinese-made software in cars and other vehicles.

The ban, which will come into effect from 2027, follows a ministry investigation into internet-connected software that has become an increasingly common feature of new car production.

It was justified on so-called “national security” grounds, with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan issuing a statement outlining the alleged dangers.

“Today’s cars are equipped with cameras, microphones, GPS tracking and other internet-connected technology. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of U.S. citizens,” he said.

This offensive statement was the starting point for Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s briefing of reporters before announcing the ban the next day.

“This is not about trade or economic advantage. This is pure national security action,” he told reporters on a conference call. “We are focused on the national security threat, the very real threat, to our country and to the American people posed by connected vehicles.”

But trade and economic interests are at the forefront and have become completely intertwined with “national security” as the Biden administration deepens its confrontation with China.

Raimondo cited the example of Europe, where Chinese vehicles are rapidly expanding their market share, as a “cautionary tale” in her briefing. “We know the Chinese playbook, they will provide subsidies, so we will not wait until our roads are full of cars and the risk is extremely significant.”

Advocates of US economic warfare constantly bring up the issue of subsidies to cover up the fact that the technology developed by China is often far ahead of that developed in the US and Europe.

Aspect New York Times The report on the ban acknowledged: “The proliferation of electronics in cars poses a dilemma for policymakers and automakers. China is a major supplier of technology such as lidar, which uses light to detect objects and is critical to many driver-assisted systems. Chinese automakers have also developed some of the most advanced autonomous driving systems.”

According to a report Financial Times“Global automakers from Toyota and Volkswagen to General Motors have fallen behind Tesla and their Chinese rivals in improving the software that powers their vehicles, threatening their ability to generate bigger profits in the electric vehicle era,” according to data collected by consulting firm Gartner that charts automakers’ digital performance.

As the Biden administration began ramping up high-tech bans on China, it claimed they were limited to strategically important goods and not aimed at the broader economy. It claimed the US was trying to build a “high fence around a small garden.”