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Thread/The economic rule book will be a key to US/China competition. China is making big investments here just as the US shoots itself in the foot. https://www.ft.com/content/188d86df-6e82-47eb-a134-2e1e45c777b6
2/Great powers need more than big markets to shape the terms of competition. They also need the regulatory institutions to define, defend, and promote a set of regulatory rules that helps their industries. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/mobilizing-market-power-jurisdictional-expansion-as-economic-statecraft/880511974FC84FF93C95403A11788147
3/China has understood this for some time and has been developing/investing in the regulatory capacity to compete. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13563460600990731
4/For a long time, it seemed that this would be a hard fight for China to win because across so many areas e.g. pharma, financial regulation, aviation...The US held the gold standard in regulatory expertise and institutions. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692291003723706
5/Largely for domestic political reasons, however, the right has waged a sustained attack on expertise and regulatory institutions, which Trump has supercharged. See NOAA, FAA, the post office, and now FDA/CDC. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/17/trump-cdc-robert-redfield-ashish-jha-masks-coronavirus
6/As @dhnexon and I have argued, as the US degrades its domestic regulatory institutions it opens the door for others, and China in particular, to write global rules. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/17/beijing-washington-bernie-sanders-warren-american-market-power-can-serve-progressive-ends/
7/As @adschina and others warn, this could have far reaching negative consequences for the US as we lose the ability to shape global technology. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2018-08-13/when-china-rules-web
8/More generally, it is an important reminder how the terms of great power competition often rest in domestic political trajectories that are unrelated to that competition. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692291003723672
9/For policy-makers today, it is critical to view US regulatory institutions as a key component in our national security toolbox. Otherwise, we will continue to cede ground to others, who understand the power of setting market rules.
