Donald Trump’s incoming trade team is backing a call from the Obama administration to take a hard line on China over semiconductors, after outgoing officials likened the potential impact of Beijing’s investment in the sector to the devastation seen in the global steel industry, the Financial Times reports. At a confirmation hearing this week, Wilbur Ross, who is poised to become commerce secretary, said the Chinese were “the world’s largest consumer of semiconductors, so far mainly importing… from [the US].” But he was “very, very concerned” about China’s own growing semiconductor sector. Ross said he had discussed the issue with Obama administration officials, who had raised concerns about China’s state-backed semiconductor sector and its potential strategic threat to the US. Technology executives had expressed concern about China’s behavior during a recent meeting convened by Trump, he said.
China Economic Review