Ambassador to China Talks About Technology Restrictions

Myron Brilliant, who leads the international division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, asked Ambassador Nicholas Burns where the economic relationship with China is heading -- it's a trillion dollars worth of business, Brilliant noted, even with American businesses' concerns about discriminatory regulations and the effects of state-owned enterprises.

Burns said it's ironic, that even as political tensions rise between the U.S. and China, "our two-way trade is increasing." He said 2022 was a major increase from a few years earlier, and that one-fifth of all agricultural exports -- more than $40 billion worth -- went to China last year.

"I think technology’s going to be the heart of the battle," he said. He noted the October executive branch decision to broaden export controls in the semiconductor sector, and said it was supported widely in Congress.

"That was a major action that we had to take," he said in an online program at the Chamber Feb. 27. He said the administration is contemplating ways to discourage American companies' investment in what Burns called civil-millitary fusion in China; he also noted that Congress has considered outbound investment screening.

He said there are "some areas, where, frankly, we don't want to see American investment and trade, because they’re too important to American security."