US-EU Trade Tech Council Presents Opportunities to Further Constrain China, ITIF Says
The U.S. should use the upcoming inaugural meeting of the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council (see 2109090004) to convince the European Union to adopt more measures to “constrain China,” including stricter export controls and investment screening, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said Sept. 13. If used correctly, the council could become a significant and useful U.S. tool to increase multilateral trade restrictions on China, the group said. “U.S. negotiators need to define success not as becoming more like the EU or increasing cooperation for cooperation’s sake,” ITIF said, “but rather in increasing cooperation while also advancing key U.S. national interests and maintaining core elements of the U.S. technology policy ecosystem.”
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But the council also presents several risks, the foundation said. The EU may "persist in its digital protectionism” and prefer for the U.S. to “engage in the hard and painful work of pushing back against Chinese mercantilism while the EU enjoys even better access” in Chinese markets. “To date, EU rhetoric has only occasionally been supportive of pressing China,” ITIF said. “Many EU policymakers do not want to rock the boat with China and risk Chinese economic and diplomatic aggression. The U.S. delegation should press the EU side to commit to concrete joint actions.”