---
title: "Podcast: Will a Western “NATO for Tech” Work? With Rob Atkinson"
summary: |-
  ITIF’s Rob Atkinson appears on the podcast *What China Wants by Sam Olsen* to talk through the realities of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposal to create a “NATO for Tech” to counter Chinese influence.
date: "2022-12-15"
issues: ["National Competitiveness", "Trade"]
authors: ["Robert D. Atkinson"]
content_type: "Podcasts"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2022/12/15/will-a-western-nato-for-tech-work/"
---

# Podcast: Will a Western “NATO for Tech” Work? With Rob Atkinson

ITIF’s Rob Atkinson joins Sam Olsen and Stewart Paterson on the podcast *What China Wants by Sam Olsen* to talk through the realities of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposal to create a “NATO for Tech” to counter Chinese influence.

Key points from the discussion:

- Prime Minister Sunak has called for a NATO of technology to protect Western interests against China.
- Rob, Sam, and Stewart discuss how an arrangement would work. For example, would there be shared collective responsibility and a minimum level of investment? What would happen if there was an issue and some of the members didn’t respond?
- Rob argues that Europe has been on the sidelines while the United States has been taking China to task on problematic trade policies.
- U.S. policies like the cutting off of advanced microchips to China, and the Chip 4 alliance, are evidence that Washington is now using trade as a weapon against Beijing. The question is, will Europe help with this?

Listen on [Substack](https://whatchinawants.substack.com/p/episode-30-will-a-western-nato-for#details), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/what-china-wants/id1624512478), [Amazon](https://t.co/rIDlS5m3qk), or [Spotify](https://t.co/e9ofxYU6jA).

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2022/12/15/will-a-western-nato-for-tech-work/*