Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

by Yanis Varoufakis

On 15 May 2019, President Donald Trump issued a decree which, in effect, banned Google from allowing use of its Android operating system on smartphones made by Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications conglomerate. Trump was effectively evicting Huawei from Google’s global cloud fief. Washington also told European governments to suspend their plan to involve Huawei in the roll-out of 5G mobile networks across Europe. It was much more than Trumpist folly. When Joe Biden moved into the White House, the New Cold War with China that Trump had kick-started moved up a gear – especially in October 2022 when, according to the New York Times, ‘The White House issued sweeping restrictions on selling semiconductors and chip-making equipment to China, an attempt to curb the country’s access to critical technologies.’ In essence, Biden told Beijing: the United States will crush your dreams of building a technologically advanced economy.