The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations

by Daniel Yergin

Underlying the trade war is a deeper concern over “future technologies.” A high-tech algorithmic arms race is already under way, led by competition for preeminence in artificial intelligence. Beijing’s “Made in China” 2025 strategy, enunciated in 2017, aims to make China a leader in ten high-tech industries. The Chinese point out that their per capita income is only about one-sixth that of the United States and that it needs to move up the value chain to avoid the stagnation of the “middle income trap.” The goal is also to “catch up” with the United States. In his speech, Pence responded that “the Communist Party” of China could end up “controlling 90 percent of the world’s most advanced industries,” which would enable it “to win the commanding heights of the 21st century economy.”