Competition with China is the United States' "existential challenge now and for the next three or four decades" and must be addressed by the White House immediately, according to a new report from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
“(Chinese) President Xi Jinping and the Communist party may have become further emboldened by the Trump administration’s continued incompetence in addressing the pandemic, and by the chaotic response to the November election culminating in an insurrection Jan. 6 designed to overturn the lawful election of President Biden,” wrote David Gantz, the Will Clayton Fellow in Trade and International Economics at the Baker Institute. The brief is part of the institute's series of policy recommendations for the Biden administration
Gantz is available to speak about international trade issues with the news media.
China is “energetically seeking to dominate" global trade and has not faced enough pushback from the U.S., according to Gantz.
“However, early Biden administration statements suggest that its experts are engaged in seeking effective measures to compete more effectively," he wrote. "As the president stated, if the United States fails to figure out how to do this, the Chinese ‘are going to eat our lunch.’”
Given the ongoing trade war and friction relating to Hong Kong and the Uighurs, among other issues, Gantz argues that the U.S. cannot do it alone.
“The Biden administration should immediately abandon the ‘America Alone’ policies of the Trump administration and work in concert with our allies (particularly the EU, U.K., Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia) to address China’s rampant IP theft and forced technology transfer, overproduction of steel, aluminum and other commodities, and unlawful subsidies,” he wrote.
Changing the tone of U.S. trade diplomacy will be important: Effective trade policies require the support not only of members of Congress but also the public at large, Gantz argues.
“It is important for the United States to encourage our allies and adversaries alike to understand that the United States once again is committed to the multilateral system and to the rule of law,” he wrote.