9mo ago

Bidenomics Is Making China Angry. That’s OK.

www.nytimes.com Opinion | Bidenomics Is Making China Angry. That’s OK.

Trump talked tough, but Biden is wielding a big stick.

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33 comments

How does China have any ground to stand on at the WTO? If they haven’t banned an American company, they’ve certainly stolen its IP. The idea that it’s unfair that the US favors American companies with its EV subsidies is completely laughable. An American company cannot even operate in China without empowering a Chinese partner organization. Get the fuck out.
- China is also heavily subsidizing their domestic ev cars
  And yes, they’ve outright blocked many American- and other western companies. Including social media websites (that don’t comply with their censorship rules)
  
  Exactly the same is true in reverse. Huawei is blocked, they are working hard on TikTok and DJI . zTE I think were also under investigation.
  As for subsidies, most big US companies get hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies. Plus of course, the only reason there is still a White House on Pennsylvania Avenue is because the banks got a free trillion out of your pocket.
  https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2706082/department-statement-on-dji-systems/
  https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-is-top-winner-of-state-local-tax-breaks/
  I don’t mean this as ‘whataboutism’ - but we have to understand this is a multiplayer game.
- Fully agreed. And we may have precedent in addition to the moral high ground somehow on this issue -- I was totally unaware that the WTO had ruled in favor of China that American steel and aluminum tariffs weren't allowed, and the US simply told them both to get fucked.
  That's honestly a bigger story than this one.
- Outdated info. Nowadays foreign automakers can operate in China without a joint venture.
  
  So what about all the stolen ip?
  Not gonna touch that one?
  
  I'm just pointing a factual error, not trying to engage in a complex debate. IP rights and business practices are a complex topic and I can't care enough to really engage here.
  
  IP is not a universal, objectively good thing. There are plenty of people who disagree with either a) how awful IP law is currently, or b) the mere existence of IP. You don't even have to be a socialist like China supposedly is (although many would call it state capitalist) to be against IP, plenty of social democrats and libertarians are against it.
  Intellectual Property is just a more abstract form of private ownership that wealthy people use to take advantage of us. Remember when they refused to give up COVID vaccine IP? They literally can't sacrifice profits even during an insane pandemic that's taking millions of lives. Remember when Canada, Sweden were kind of OK with piracy and then US politicians/lobbyists entered their country to ensure they would be cracking down on piracy? As a European I'm not happy that yet another form of welfare transfers (which piracy de facto is) was taken away just because the US isn't content with being the wealthiest country on the planet - they need to maintain or even grow their obscene wealth.
  Honestly, I could not give a rat's ass about China "stealing" IP from literally the country that owns 30% of the world's household wealth. More countries should follow suit so that we can break free from private IP holders delaying human technological and scientific progress.

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