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Combating China’s unfair trade practices
An attorney who testified before the House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade says the U.S. must adopt policies that encourage growth in key technology sectors were the U.S. competes with China.
Clete Willems with Akin Gump says it’s one of many ways to go after China’s unfair trade practices.
“The bipartisan USICA bill includes numerous provisions to assist, such as funding for semi-conductor and 5G supply chains, a federal commitment to AI, quantum computing and synthetic biology and supply chain resiliency efforts.”
He says the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) would spur growth and fight inflation by reinstating the miscellaneous tariff bill and the China 301 exclusion process.
“While in the Trump administration, I supported these tariffs to pressure China to stop its policy of forced technology transfer. However, they were not meant to be permanent and some appear to be hurting the U.S. economy without providing the requisite leverage to change China’s behavior.”
Willems says the U.S. should consider more targeted tariffs – reinstate previous exclusions and start a new process for all products. He says the US. Must adopt a defensive stance against China’s trade practices, coordinated with allies.
Clete Willems was Trump’s deputy director of the National Economic Council.