China

China is not only investing more in innovation but also becoming better at turning those investments into technologies with commercial potential. To maintain its technological leadership, the United States should strengthen its entire innovation pipeline, from research to commercialization.

Just four percent of Chinese critical technology patents were filed by state-owned enterprises or the government, while more than half were filed by private firms. Another 27 percent were filed by universities. In comparison, only 3.3 percent of all critical technology patents in the United States were filed by universities.

The era of free trade globalization is over. To replace it, the United States should lead a new class of binding deals with allies, with a dual objective of strengthening allied national economic power industries and weakening China’s.

The utopian vision of globally integrated, democratic, free-market economies working together in harmony has not materialized. Meanwhile, the belief that China could not innovate—and that America would continue to lead in advanced technologies—also has proven to be false. These new realities require bold reforms in the U.S. research system.

China has utilized numerous illegitimate tools in pursuit of global leadership in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, including IP theft, forced labor, and stealing genetic information. This must be met with a swift and forceful response from U.S. policymakers.

China is becoming an increasingly capable competitor in the global pharmaceutical industry, with growing strengths at every level of the biopharmaceutical supply chain. Responding to this challenge will require a comprehensive, whole-of-government strategy, with strong cross-agency collaboration, to advance U.S. biopharmaceutical competitiveness.

Whether Washington sustains a policy response equal to the challenge China poses or takes a timeout while Xi runs up the score remains an open question.

The U.S. government does not need to create a Board to manage trade with China—it needs to use all its available tools to urge China to conduct economic relations in accordance with established trade rules, commitments which China has already clearly and unequivocally made to the United States and to other global trade partners.

If the China challenge is real, the West needs to get serious about its techno-industrial policy. This means a more active state in tech, trade, and industry, a prospect certain to rile free-market advocates who imagine that “even if the US is a hollowed-out economy, at least we will be free.”

Foreign governments increasingly use online speech laws to pressure U.S. platforms into censoring constitutionally protected content, while sovereign immunity leaves American companies with little legal recourse. Wyoming's GRANITE Act offers a promising model, but meaningful protection will ultimately require Congress to amend federal sovereign immunity laws.