China

The United States leads the race for global advantage in artificial intelligence, at least for the time being, with China coming in second and the EU lagging behind. But China is poised to challenge U.S. dominance in coming years as it undertakes bold AI initiatives.

The United States is continuing to drift in the wrong direction when it comes to federal funding for research and development (R&D). We parsed the numbers last year in a blog post that showed a five-decade-long slide had been accelerating since 2009. Now we have another year’s worth of data, and the picture is getting worse. At this pace, ITIF estimates the United States will fall behind China in R&D investment by 2021.

Successful negotiations between two parties—whether between spouses, companies, or in the case of the trade war with China, countries—depend on each side having an honest assessment of their part in the conflict.

Until the last decade, major nations primarily provided financing to domestic exporters only as a lender of last resort. Since then, official medium- and long-term export crediting has more than doubled from $55 billion in 2008 to $129 billion in 2018.

A survey of allied think tanks summarizes what 23 nations and the EU are doing best when it comes to innovation policy, and where there are the greatest opportunities to improve. In many cases, the successes can serve as model policies for other countries to adopt.

Chinese policymakers cling to a strident view that national sovereignty in the cyber realm supersedes the need to enable data flows or cooperate with trading partners on important international norms.

If China were only a copier, then the competitive threat to advanced economies would be limited. But there is no reason to believe China won’t follow the path of “Asian tigers” that rapidly evolved from copiers to innovators, which poses a serious threat.

Rob Atkinson testified before the Senate Small Business Committee on the issue of unfair Chinese trade and technology policies and practices and what the federal government should do in response.

The Washington trade and economics establishment has largely dismissed the threat Chinese innovation mercantilist practices pose to the U.S. economy, jobs and national security. The threat is serious, and China needs to be confronted, Rob Atkinson writes for the Washington Post.

Recognizing that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are less profitable and innovative than private firms, China relinquished control of many SOEs beginning in the late 1990s, but still gives former SOEs easier access to loans and favors them in allocating subsidies. A new study analyzed the impacts of this, observing Chinese enterprises’ performance between 1998 and 2013.

If Europe wants to set its own course in the new global order, then the most important first step is to join with America to fight for free trade and an open Chinese market.