US Curbs on China Tech Giants Likely to Remain

Of all the issues that U.S. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will face when he takes office in January, the conflicts with China over technology and cybersecurity may be among the hardest to resolve. Disputes over Chinese access to U.S. technology and markets have snowballed during the administration of President Donald J. Trump, despite the signing of a Phase 1 agreement on tariffs and trade less than one year ago.

The tariff cuts and Chinese commitments to increase imports from the United States by at least $200 billion (1.3 trillion yuan) over two years have been all but forgotten in the frictions over China's advances in 5G telecom development, social networks like TikTok and suspected links to the Chinese government. Some of the shift in focus can be traced to the Trump administration's anger at the origin and spread of the deadly coronavirus, the effect on the U.S. economy and China's poor performance on the Phase 1 deal.

In the first 10 months of 2020, China's imports of U.S. products covered by the agreement were only 55 percent of year-to-date targets, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) in Washington.

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