WASHINGTON — Across the political spectrum there seems to be a consensus that the decadeslong free flow of trade, money and technology from the U.S. to China must be fundamentally overhauled, but several lawmakers involved in the effort are confronting the difficulty of an overhaul that doesn’t sever economic ties between the two countries.
From the recent episode of a suspected Chinese spy balloon traversing the U.S. to long-standing issues of Beijing’s cyberattacks and bellicose actions toward Taiwan and across the South China Sea, as well as China’s military buildup, members of Congress cite many reasons to reduce U.S. dependence on China in critical areas by restoring domestic capacities, even as they seek to maintain the status quo in others.
“There are certain areas that meet the test of national security as well as issues that the American people care about … (including) semiconductors, large-capacity batteries that have to do with electric vehicles, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, but also pharmaceutical ingredients, automobile manufacturing,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee.
