Bipartisan Bill Countering Chinese Technology Ambitions Reintroduced in House
Reps. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and Mike Conaway, R-Texas, reintroduced The Fair Trade with China Enforcement Act, a companion bill to Senate Bill 2, which was reintroduced at the beginning of the month by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Mark Warner, D-Va. Ryan's announcement Jan. 22 said: "This bipartisan legislation works to safeguard American assets from Chinese influence and possession, as well as protect American businesses from China’s tools of economic aggression."
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The two bills are designed to restrict Chinese investment in U.S. industries that are part of the Made in China 2025 technology advancement initiative and tax Chinese investment in the U.S. more broadly "due to its negative effect on the United States trade deficit and wages of workers in the United States," according to the text of the Senate bill. S. 2 also aims "to increase the cost of transnational production operations in the People's Republic of China in a manner consistent with the economic cost of the risk of loss of unique access by the United States to intellectual property, technology, and industrial base."
The bill also proposes that any item on the Made in China 2025 list -- which includes lithium-ion batteries, aircraft, cars, semiconductors and more -- be eligible for a countervailing duty if there is an American manufacturer that brings such a petition. “Our imbalanced trade relationship with China poses profound national and economic security risks to the United States. The bipartisan Fair Trade with China Enforcement Act would help correct our trade imbalances with China and give American workers a level playing field to compete and succeed," Ryan said.
“Beijing’s Made in China 2025 initiative has made it clear that the Chinese government’s objective is to drive American companies out of business and move their technology and jobs to China at any cost, including the use of illegal trade practices. This legislation takes the important step of barring the sale of national security sensitive U.S. intellectual property and technology to China, as well as ensuring that China is paying its fair share in taxes,” Conaway said. “This bill also keeps the focus on the national security threats posed by [telecommunications equipment companies] Huawei and ZTE, as China frequently uses commercial technology as a vessel to spy on the U.S. government."