Harrop: China’s dominance in chips, batteries should worry us

President Biden is right to call for ‘extreme competition’ to counter China’s technology maneuvers.

By Froma Harrop / syndcicated columnist

China is America’s economic rival. The way capitalists deal with rivals is to compete. President Biden vows to compete with this rival on the rival’s terms. He calls it “extreme competition.”

China has built a massive semiconductor industry with massive government spending. It is about to send another $200 billion to its semiconductor sector through 2025.

The U.S. Senate, in a fit of bipartisanship, just approved spending up to about $250 billion for science research, subsidizing computer chip makers here and expanding the National Science Foundation. Europe is also spending big.

Why is this so important? Semiconductors are the little brains that now run appliances, airplanes, mobile phones and cars. You can’t have a modern economy without them.

And the reason for building up this domestic industry goes beyond creating and keeping chip-making jobs at home. As the coronavirus disrupted the world’s supply chains, U.S. manufacturers suffered a shortage of semiconductors. Our auto industry has slowed production for lack of them.

A military rival as well, China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and, some fear, could invade it. Taiwan produces over 60 percent of the world’s computer chips. And so, semiconductor independence has become a matter of national security.

Consider what happened when Australia called for independent investigators to be let into Wuhan to study the origins of the virus. China responded with reprisals against a variety of Australian products — coal, wine, beef, cotton and barley — exports worth about $25 billion in 2019.

The Biden administration called China’s retaliatory move “economic coercion.”

The practice of governments making major investments in their own companies is called “economic nationalism.” This kind of state intervention does not sit well with some ideologies. Conservatives traditionally believe that the governments should not mess with market mechanisms. Let the private sector make such decisions.

Only one Democrat voted against the Senate bill. That was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who complained that it amounted to “corporate welfare” to big, rich companies. Suffice it to say, if the companies could have become richer doing this on their own, they would have done it.

The bottom line should be American jobs, not Sanders’ highly dated idea of how the world economy works. This spending not only creates jobs at the corporations, rich or otherwise, but also helps retain jobs at other companies slowed down by the shortage of semiconductors.

In a similar vein, the administration is now working on a plan to beef up the American manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. Used in electric cars and for storing renewable energy, these batteries are essential to a green economy. China has 93 “gigafactories” that make them. The U.S. has four.

This would be a good time to briefly compare the Biden approach to China with that of his predecessor. One of former President Donald Trump’s first actions in office was to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The partnership’s purpose was to help its members — about a dozen countries, including Canada, Japan and Australia — compete with China.

Sanders opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership as well. He and Trump apparently shared an aversion to anything with the word “trade” attached. Let’s just say that had the U.S. stayed in the agreement, many of the currently disrupted supply chains might have been oriented away from China. Some might have moved to the United States.

Biden has also dispensed with the racial taunts. Which do you think concerns China more, Trump’s calling covid-19 the “China virus” or Biden talking about “extreme competition”?

A modern economy runs on computer chips. A clean-energy future relies on lithium batteries. America cannot let China control the supply of them. Drop your purist dogmas, everybody. Economic nationalism is the future.

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. Email her at fharrop@gmail.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

Glacier Peak, elevation 10,541 feet, in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest in Snohomish County, Washington. (Caleb Hutton / The Herald) 2019
Editorial: Sell-off of public lands a ruinous budget solution

The proposal in the Senate won’t aid affordable housing and would limit recreational opportunities.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Tuesday, June 17

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Harrop: Trump’s exception for immigrants shows its hypocrisy

In excusing those in agriculture and hospitality, he makes the need for broader reforms clear.

Comment: Companies ditching Pride based on vibes, not facts

With the LGBTQ community much of their customer base, some pride in past stances makes sense.

French: Trump’s support relies on theory more than its practice

There’s a significant number who back Trump’s goals but are less supportive of his methods on many issues.

Comment: Trump retreats to his safe space on immigration

As he struggles elsewhere, Trump turns to what had been a popular issue, but even that may be changing.

Goldberg: Like the right, the left needs to think globally

Conservatives have an international pact; progressives risk further loses without a similar network.

In a gathering similar to many others across the nation on Presidents Day, hundreds lined Broadway with their signs and chants to protest the Trump administration Monday evening in Everett. (Aaron Kennedy / Daily Herald)
Editorial: Let’s remember the ‘peaceably’ part of First Amendment

Most of us understand the responsibilities of free speech; here’s how we remind President Trump.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer testifies during a budget hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Al Drago/The New York Times)
Editorial: Ending Job Corps a short-sighted move by White House

If it’s jobs the Trump administration hopes to bring back to the U.S., it will need workers to fill them.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Monday, June 16

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

AP government students at Henry M. Jackson High School visited the state Capitol this spring and watched as a resolution they helped draft was adopted in the Senate as part of the Building Bridges Future Leaders Academy. (Josh Estes / Building Bridges)
Comment: Future leaders learn engineering of building bridges

Here’s what Jackson High government students learned with the help of local officials and lawmakers.

Comment: Netanyahu’s gamble risks quicker path to Iranian bomb

Israel’s bombs can’t reach Iran’s deepest nuclear facilities. It may have only emboldened Iran to press on.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.