US tariffs are not slower than rushing China’s desire to be high-tech self-sufficiency

That’s the “liberation day” tariffs for Donald Trump A shocking global market And it rekindles the horrors of a long-term trade war. The US president may be Reconsidering some of his most destructive tariffs When he floats Possibility of trading– But he continues Threate new measures About products like semiconductors and drugs that he is trying to shake up the global trading system.

How will tariffs affect China’s technical sector? Just a month ago– Did you appear in the success of Deepseek’s AI model?

China I’m preparing Since Trump first imposed tariffs in 2018, Beijing has long anticipated a second round in the face of stricter restrictions on access to advanced technology. It’s not just about building local chip plants. Beijing’s measures include strengthening renewable energy capacity, building cloud computing capabilities through national projects such as East Data West Compute, and investing in Lidar technology and batteries.

Beijing is not trying to compete for US innovation in AI infrastructure. Instead, they are leveraging manufacturing expertise to double the physical AI, such as robots and AI-enabled EVs.

China’s chip industry is still Delay the cutting edge. But that’s true Much self-sufficiency today Five years ago, when the US first began tightening screws for chip exports. The strength of the country exceeds hardware Deepseek’s open source AI model It allows for affordable LLM.

The US will likely continue to constrain China’s technology sector, even if Trump pulls back his tariff threat. Measures like chip export control enjoy bipartisan support in Washington.

AI companies like Alibaba, Bytedance and Deepseek previously relied heavily on the controversial Nvidia H20 chips, the most cutting edge processors that could be legally sold in China. The complete ban would force China’s big tech companies to rethink their chipping strategies, and perhaps consider alternatives like those created by Huawei.

Analysts suggest that Huawei’s revenues are likely to garner a massive surge in revenue as customers rely on AI systems instead of Nvidia. One recent report from Semianalysis suggests that Huawei’s latest products may even outperform Nvidia’s in several configurations.

Export restrictions, target tariffs and industrial policies may make sense for the US, who are concerned about strategic competition and the need for a more resilient supply chain. And that’s why China did the same thing.

Supply Chain Movement

Since 2018, large and small businesses have moved their manufacturing and sourcing to countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Thailand. However, companies cannot cut China completely. As Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed out in 2015, it is difficult to match China’s size, labor skills and infrastructure, at least in the short term. Over 80% of iPhones are still made in China.

Trump’s punitive tariffs aren’t just going to raise consumer costs. They force us to force us to rethink our supply chain strategy that took decades. Unpredictability, not tariffs, is a true tax for global companies that rely on long-term planning and stable conditions. Each policy will spread across global markets, including its tariffs, export bans, blacklists and exemptions.

For some Chinese companies, it has been translated into a cautious, risk-averse “waiting” stance, suspending US businesses and focusing on non-US businesses for now. Chinese companies are already quietly hedging against trade turmoil. First build for the domestic market, rethink your expansion strategy, and reroute development and sales to a more friendly jurisdiction.

Tariffs, although indirect, will also affect China’s AI plans. Chinese AI startups serve a wider range of high-tech sectors. Executives rethinking AI plans will have downstream impacts on China’s AI startup ecosystem.

AI, cloud computing, and semiconductors are not isolated sectors. They are built on cross-border collaborations between academic, commercial and government. Technological advances, whatever the value of strategic autonomy is, still benefit from openness.

Making things worse is a trend of anti-Chinese sentiment around the world. The fusion of ethnicity, nationality and geopolitics has become much more common since the community pandemic. The growing fear of China undermines a sense of trust and security, and damages the social fabrics that support global innovation. And, as shown by the steady return of Chinese scholars, it can be worried about prejudice and returning to China.

What happens next?

The US may hope that the right combination of tariffs, subsidies and export controls will help maintain its technical leadership. But instead, it will inevitably become self-sufficient with the continued push to block China’s access to advanced technology. The trade war encourages China to invest more in its technology sector, even if it leads to transactions. The next time the US attempts something like a H20 chip ban, it may make little sense for the Chinese AI ecosystem.

Competition can be healthy, but it doesn’t have to mean collapse. The challenge for both the US and China is to draw clear guardrails to support national security without closure of collaboration entirely. Climate Tech, Healthcare, AI safety, and open source development still could present real possibilities for collaborative leadership.

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