The United States will continue to sell semi-conductor computer chips to China but not its most powerful ones \u201cthat China wants for its military,\u201d Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Sunday.
The U.S. is \u201cnever going to sell our most powerful [artificial intelligence] chips\u201d to China, Raimondo told CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d show.
Raimondo, who met in Beijing recently with Chinese officials on a range of U.S.-Chinese business and trade issues, recapped her sometimes contentious discussions in a string of talk show interviews.
Raimondo said she told Chinese officials that she knew Beijing had hacked her email in advance of her late August trip.
\u201cThey did hack me, which was unappreciated, to say the least,\u201d she told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d
On CNN, she said, “They suggested that they didn’t know about it and they suggested that it wasn’t intentional. But I think it was important that I put it on the table and let them know and let them know that it’s hard to build trust when you have actions like that.”
Raimondo said she told Chinese officials they were making it more difficult for American companies to do business there.
“I was very clear with China that we need to \u2014 patience is wearing thin among American business,\u201d Raimondo told CBS\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation\u201d show. \u201cThey need and deserve a predictable environment and a level playing field. And hopefully China will heed that message so we can have a stable growing commercial relationship.”
While the United States and China maintain more than $700 billion in annual trade, escalating tensions in recent years have made it more challenging for U.S. firms to operate in China.
Raimondo said U.S. firms face unexplained large fines, raids on businesses and changes to a counterespionage law.
Raimondo said that as China\u2019s economy has slowed in recent months, its government has \u201cbecome more arbitrary in the way they administer regulations; the economy is quite challenged.”
\u201cI brought up many of our grievances on behalf of our national security concerns, concerns of U.S. labor, concerns of U.S. business. Didn’t pull any punches,\u201d she told NBC. \u201cIt’s a complicated relationship. There’s no doubt about it. We are in a fierce competition with China at every level.\u201d
The United States and China are the world\u2019s two biggest economies.
\u201cAll of that being said, we have to manage this competition,\u201d she said. \u201cConflict is in no one’s interest. We need to manage the competition responsibly. That’s good for America. That’s good for the world.\u201d
\u201cAnd in that respect, I think our commercial relationship, which is very large and growing, and underpins hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs, our commercial relationship, if stable, can be kind of a ballast for the entire relationship,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd anything we do that can create stability is, in fact, good for the American people.\u201d
Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Raimondo during her trip that \u201csound economic relations and trade cooperation will not only be beneficial to our two countries, but to the whole world.\u201d
As it stands now, the U.S. imports much of its semiconductor chips used in the manufacture of high-tech products from Taiwan, the self-governed territory that China considers a wayward province. Beijing has never ruled out the use of military force to take full control and Washington has been supplying Taiwan with military weaponry to defend itself against any prospect of an invasion.
Raimondo said the U.S. is on track by the end of the decade to \u201chave a large, deep, best-in-the-world semiconductor ecosystem\u2026. We already lead the world in design of semiconductors. You can see that with the AI chips. We lead the world in software.\u201d
But she added, \u201cWe need to get back into the business of actually manufacturing leading-edge chips here and packaging leading edge chips here. And yes, we will, by the end of this decade, have regained prominence and have that deep ecosystem, including research and development, here in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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