Kyle Chan is a postdoctoral research associate and lecturer in sociology at Princeton. Today, he wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times ominously titled, “In the Future, China Will Be Dominant. The U.S. Will Be Irrelevant.”
Warns Chan: “The United States needs to realize that neither tariffs nor other trade pressure will get China to abandon the state-driven economic playbook that has worked so well for it and suddenly adopt industrial and trade policies that Americans consider fair. If anything, Beijing is doubling down on its state-led approach, bringing a Manhattan Project-style focus to achieving dominance in high-tech industries.”
EVs is one sector. By all indications, China has already pulled ahead of Tesla and EVs, with the ascendance of BYD and other Chinese EV manufacturers.
AI and robotics are two other sectors, where China is racing for global dominance. It’s hard to imagine that the United States will become “irrelevant” in these areas. But it’s easy to imagine that China could overtake the United States in terms of AI innovation and development. (Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports today that Apple is facing a “crisis” in developing AI. More on that to follow.)