President Joe Biden’s race against China in the technology space is picking up pace amid speculation a key independent federal agency is planning on banning U.S. sales of new devices from two Chinese companies.
The potential action matches Biden’s talk about the challenges China’s own technology prowess poses to the U.S. economy and the country’s national security amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Reports the Federal Communications Commission is preparing to prohibit U.S. purchases of new Huawei and ZTE devices because of a perceived national security threat due to their Chinese Communist Party ties is “pretty extraordinary,” according to Cato Institute research fellow Clark Packard.
Combined with Biden’s Commerce Department making a long-awaited announcement last week that it will restrict the sale of U.S. microchip technology to China without a special license, Packard, an R Street Institute alumnus, said the administration’s response to China appears to have “gone into hyperdrive.”