Publications: Robert D. Atkinson

A deindustrialized nation, which the United States is on the path to becoming, is not a strong nation. Especially not when China is doing everything it can to dominate the world’s advanced, dual-use industries.

Instead of throwing out the corporate baby with the bathwater, how about some nuance in the justified critique of neoliberalism?

In the Trump and China era, South Korea must move beyond export-led growth. Scaling up small firms and boosting productivity in services must be national imperatives.

President Trump and the MAGA movement want to return to the style of governance that reached its zenith during the McKinley administration—an era of small government, protective tariffs, limited immigration, and America as regional power.

There is a clear linkage between technology and national security, economic strength and social stability.

Chinese advanced industries may not have U.S. market access after the trade war, but they will have the rest of the world’s. American companies will be left with the scraps of the U.S. market. Scale will determine the winner.

President Trump sees tariffs as an across-the-board global price reset, wherein the market, not the government, selects the firms that succeed behind America’s tariff wall.

Canada risks falling behind as a low-productivity, resource-based economy just as China rises as a global technology leader and U.S. protectionism grows. To help turn the ship of state toward a technology-driven economy, the government should take the simple but impactful step of giving Canadian industry more say in setting university research priorities.

The goal of industrial policy is to align business activity with national interest. So, why not use the tax code to reward companies that drive exports, domestic investment, R&D, and workforce training?

To beat China, the United States must better align university research with critical technologies and ensure it directly supports the needs of American firms. To do that, federal research funding agencies should prioritize university researchers who have secured financial commitments from industry.