Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare

by Edward Fishman

At least for several years to come, however, the clean-energy industry will offer chokepoints that China can exploit for economic warfare. Among other things, Beijing could use this advantage to deter the West from tightening the “technology blockade.” China’s export controls on gallium and germanium, announced in July 2023, were followed by high-level outreach from U.S. officials and public reassurances that America sought only “narrow de-risking,” after which the two countries could “begin consequential diplomacy”—a sign that China’s shot across the bow had accomplished the desired effect. But there’s also a risk that China’s weaponization of critical minerals will lead to a spiraling economic war that destroys every last shred of the U.S.-China economic relationship. The hard reality is that, in the coming years, the scramble for economic security is likelier to break the global economy than it is to break just the chokepoints.