United States Commerce Secretary Warns About “Threat” China Poses
Jose Nino
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On December 2, 2023, United States Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo called on elected officials, Silicon Valley elites, and US allies to prevent China from acquiring semiconductors and state-of-the-art technologies that are integral for national security.
Raimondo gave a speech at a yearly national defense forum in Simi Valley, California, Raimondo described the Chinese government as “the biggest threat we’ve ever had” and emphasized “China is not our friend.”
The US and China are currently deadlocked in a major geopolitical and geoeconomic competition for world primacy.
Back In October, Raimondo put forward several restrictions on the export of advanced chips to China, which includes those used in the construction of artificial intelligence (AI), to prevent the Chinese from using this technology for military purposes.
“I know there are CEOs of chip companies in this audience who were a little cranky with me when I did that, because you’re losing revenue. Such is life, protecting our national security matters more than short term revenue.Newsflash: democracy is good for your businesses. Rule of law here and around the world is good for your businesses,” she declared.
Raimondo called attention to how Nvidia, a technology company that manufactures the most advanced chips needed to build the most recent generation of AI, had created a product that performs just below the limit set by the Commerce Department for export to China.
“That’s what industry does,” she acknowledged, but continued, “That’s not productive.”
“Every day China wakes up trying to figure out how to do an end run around our export controls … which means every minute of every day, we have to wake up tightening those controls and being more serious about enforcement with our allies,” she stated.
Raimondo effectively begged for the federal government to give the Commerce Department more funding to effectively conduct its mission.
“I have a US$200 million budget. It’s like the cost of a few fighter jets. Come on,” she stated. “Let’s go fund this operation like it needs to be funded so we can do it, we need to do to protect America.”
“America leads the world in artificial intelligence … America leads the world in advanced semiconductor design,” Raimondo commented. “That’s because of our private sector. No way are we going to let [China] catch up.”
Indeed, China is an economic rival to the US. The best way to confront this challenge is by decoupling trade from China through the use of tariffs, reshoring, near-shoring, and other measures that reduce Chinese economic influence in the American economy.
None of this requires the US to pursue a direct military confrontation against China, much less have the federal government splurge money on the Commerce Department.
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