U.S. commerce chief calls for export curbs with allies against China

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo [Photo by AFP / Yonhap]

China is the biggest threat to the United States trade policy, according to a top U.S. government official.

“Beijing is the biggest threat we’ve ever had,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Saturday. “China is not our friend.”

She was speaking at an annual national defense forum in Simi Valley in California.

Raimondo urged allies to join restrictions on the exports of advanced technology to China.

“Every day China wakes up trying to figure out how to do an end run around our export controls,” she said, “which means every minute of every day, we have to wake up tightening those controls and being more serious about enforcement with our allies.”

Raimondo acknowledged that the export controls against China have affected some U.S. companies but noted that “protecting our national security matters more than short-term revenue.”

Raimondo also cited Nvidia, the U.S.-based maker of advanced chips, which has designed specific chips for the Chinese market following the U.S. export curbs against China in October 2022.

“If you redesign a chip around a particular cut line that enables them to do AI, I’m going to control it the very next day,” Raimondo said.

In addition to AI-based chips, Raimondo described life science engineering, cloud computing, and AI models as possible technologies for export controls.