Latest US-EU TTC Is a Good Start, But Europe Should Do More to Target China Instead of U.S. Tech Firms, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following the third ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Nigel Cory, ITIF’s associate director of trade policy:

Europe and the United States should focus more on presenting a united front to counter China’s unfair trade and economic practices in TTC meetings. It’s encouraging that one of the outcomes of the latest meeting was a pledge to call out China’s subsidies for the medical device industry—but medical devices are just one of many advanced sectors China has targeted for that kind of support. They’re doing the same thing in advanced IT, robotics and automated machine tools, aerospace, and new energy vehicles, among others. Unfortunately, that is at risk of being overshadowed by transatlantic friendly fire on other trade and technology issues.

The two sides have all the information they need to build a long ‘bill of particulars’ on the sectors where China uses significant subsidies, forced tech transfers, and other unfair tools to seize market share and innovative capabilities.

The TTC will fall short as long as Europe continues to unfairly target U.S. tech firms along with Chinese ones. Just as the Biden administration should remove discriminatory EV subsidy rules, Europe should stop targeting U.S. tech firms and products. If it doesn’t, the Biden administration should take action against Europe.

The United States needs to put TTC outcomes in the proper context. For example, TTC standards cooperation on additive manufacturing and post-quantum encryption is great, but it won’t amount to much if it doesn’t address the many new ways Europe uses technology standards as a protectionist tool.

Without a clear, shared focus on China, the TTC will never achieve anything near its true potential.