• The Biden administration has kept tariffs on China and is considering outbound investment restrictions, but is also emphasizing the idea of “friend-shoring”—moving supply chains out of China and into friendly countries.
• The U.S. should incentivize high-tech manufacturing in the U.S., but it needs to be done with robots, not labor-intensive manufacturing.
• The U.S. needs to build a large coalition of allies and friends to balance China, and should err on the side of deference to those allies.
• The U.S. should offer Japan and South Korea full access to the U.S. market, including tax credits, to negate China’s advantage.
• The U.S. should not try to force small allies and friends to appreciate their currency against the dollar, as this would be stingy and selfish.
Published February 1, 2023
Visit Noahpinion to read Noah Smith’s original post Friend-shoring vs. “Buy American”
