White House Should Prioritize IP Theft in U.S.-China Trade Talks

Justin Sherman wrote for The Record about the White House's need to prioritize IP theft in U.S.-China trade talks.

A new bilateral trade deal between the US and China – which President Trump says may come in the next month – must address intellectual property theft that unfairly hurts American competitiveness.

And the deal must be substantive and not just cosmetic.

Several months ago, the Trump administration proposed sweeping export controls on artificial intelligence. These sought to broadly limit the diffusion of American companies’ AI capabilities to Chinese counterparts. More recently, the administration has voiced cybersecurity concerns with 5G systems built (or to be built) by Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, citing concerns about deliberate security vulnerabilities that could be used for spying. There are also concerns that the Chinese government could compel Huawei to hand over information or even turn off others’ 5G networks in a war-like scenario.