After sanctioning China's trams, the United States is eyeing China's semiconductors, and the next target of sanctions is DJI? The EU smells danger, China is self-reliant, and the chip business in China is going to be cold? China has played the rare earth card with the trend and firmly grasped the seven inches of Europe and the United States.
The United States blocks Chinese semiconductors and sanctions DJI drones
According to a report by "Hong Kong 01" on June 29, the U.S. House of Representatives recently held two hearings involving Sino-US trade, and at these two hearings, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo said that the U.S. Department of Commerce is currently drafting relevant regulations and intends to introduce regulations for China's electric vehicles by the end of this year.
To prove that Chinese electric vehicles pose a so-called "security threat" to the United States, Raimondo claimed that all connected Chinese cars on the road would collect data from Americans and send it back to Beijing.
In addition to this, the hearing also discussed blocking Chinese semiconductor parts from entering the U.S. market and imposing fees on Chinese-made ships wishing to call at U.S. ports. At the meeting, U.S. lawmakers and officials repeatedly stressed the need to take steps to address the alleged national security risks and unfair trade practices posed by China's technology sector.
Among them, Illinois Congressman Krishnamurthy explained the alleged unfair trade practices.
He claimed that because China's DJI drones occupy 90% of the U.S. consumer market, U.S. drone companies have to withdraw from the U.S. market. A $1,000 U.S. proletarian drone has the same performance as a $300 Chinese DJI drone, and it must be that the DJI drone is subsidized by the Chinese government.
As a result, he advocated for the restoration of the import surge protection mechanism established by the United States in 2001, which allowed the United States to impose short-term tariffs to alleviate market problems caused by the sudden increase in foreign goods, but the provision expired in 2013.
California Congressman Turner strongly supports the imposition of terminal fees, also on the grounds that China's shipbuilding industry has received a lot of government subsidies, so the United States can levy millions of dollars per freighter, docking fees, and the average docking fee per container is about 50 cents, and Americans can re-own American-made freighters by paying a few cents more for jeans or shirts. At the same time, he criticized the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for opposing the move, accusing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of not even being willing to pay a few cents more, and that it was this philosophy that ruined the United States.
After listening to this information, I am afraid that many people find it difficult to imagine that such a group of people are actually governing the United States, and the views put forward by these American politicians are not only naïve but also lack logical and practical evidence.
The accusations made by the United States are baseless, and the European Union has sensed the dangers
Raimondo's argument that "China collects data from Americans" is a common pretext for sanctions in the United States in recent years, and relevant companies, including Huawei and TikTok, have suffered from the US government's harassment. But the U.S. has never produced any actual evidence that Chinese companies or goods use U.S. data for military purposes.
On the contrary, the United States itself has exposed a number of vicious incidents related to data content leaks, covering both official and private enterprises. These include Tesla's employees forwarding user videos automatically sent back by vehicles for fun, and the U.S. government's use of mobile phone software to spy on leaders of other countries.
But even so, after China issued relevant safety regulations and confirmed that American companies met the standards, it still allowed the sale and normal passage of Tesla's electric vehicles in China, which had the leak scandal, but the United States twisted and pinched on these issues and continued to live the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain.
As for the temporary tariffs and terminal fees for China's manufacturing industry, they are just new protectionist excuses, and the so-called American people can regain their own manufacturing by paying a few cents more is a fallacy that has been proven to fail in the Trump era.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposes this approach because as the trade war deepens, the cost of being passed on to consumers will only get higher, which will only lead to higher inflation in the United States.
However, these American politicians do not know the principle of economic operation at all, do not understand what kind of results will be brought about by what they say, and only take it for granted that they can incite voters to win votes for themselves, and do not take any responsibility for what they say.
At present, even the European Union has realized that the problem is wrong and has begun to worry about the loss of its own interests. Bloomberg has received news from people familiar with the matter that the European Commission has issued a report indicating that the development of Chinese semiconductor companies is dealing a blow to the Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors, Germany's Infineon Technologies AG and Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp., and these companies' market share in China will face the risk of shrinking.
According to Bloomberg analysis, the main reason is that China has significantly increased its investment in domestic production capacity after the United States banned the sale of high-end chips to China.
Facts have proved that the United States can only stop win-win cooperation by building trade barriers, but not China's development and progress, and after China turns to seek independent technology and expand multilateral cooperation with other countries, it is still the United States and its allies who follow the United States to suffer. What's more, China is not without countermeasures against all kinds of coercion by the United States, and has already prepared a dog stick for the United States and its allies.
China has prepared a "dog-beating stick" to control Europe and the United States
On June 29, China's State Council announced regulations on the management of rare earths, which are scheduled to come into force on October 1. The content clearly stipulates that rare earth resources belong to the state, and no organization or individual shall encroach or destroy, and the mining, smelting, utilization, circulation and export of rare earths will be supervised by the whole industry chain.
In addition, the regulations also stipulate that the total amount of rare earth mining and rare earth smelting and separation shall be regulated, and the dynamic management shall be optimized, the comprehensive utilization of rare earths shall be further standardized, and a product traceability system shall be established.
This means that in the future, rare earths, a strategic resource, will be firmly controlled, and the situation of illegal mining, over-mining, and disorderly exports, which have been repeatedly banned in the past, will be improved.
At the same time, China can be regarded as officially grasping the seven inches of the supply chain in Europe and the United States.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China's rare earth production in 2023 will be 240,000 tons, accounting for two-thirds of the world's total, and the world's reserves of 17 rare earth elements will be 110 million tons, with China accounting for 40%.
The only way to wean ourselves out of dependence on China for rare earths is for Western countries to build new supply chains to mine and smelt rare earths in other countries.
But the problem is that the investment required for this industrial chain is very large, and in the context of today's global economic downturn, it is difficult for Western countries to bear the sunk costs in the early stage, and they are facing huge investment risks if they want to build a new industrial chain.
Therefore, there is only one way forward for the West, and that is to engage in dialogue with China, stop its improper policies toward China, and restore mutual benefit and win-win results. Otherwise, in the end, China will cut off the supply of rare earths at the raw material level, and the West will face a total loss.