What a National Strategic-Industry Policy Should Look Like

There is a growing realization that the United States must develop and maintain competitive advantage in a select group of technologically advanced industries that are strategically important for economic and national security. Overall economic growth policy—or even a generalized competitiveness and innovation policy—will no longer be enough. To meet the challenge of a rising mercantilist China in particular, the United States needs a plan to ensure it has adequate production and innovation capacity in technologically sophisticated dual-use industries ranging from advanced materials to artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, and aerospace. If policymakers accept this proposition, then the key question is how the federal government can craft and implement a strategic-industry agenda that will ensure these sectors thrive in the United States.

ITIF hosted a discussion of what a robust national strategic-industry policy should—and should not—entail.