President Donald Trump has a lot on his domestic policy plate for the short and medium term: confirmation battles, executive orders and the whole tax-border-energy bill agenda to coordinate with Hill allies.
When it comes to tech policy, the emerging theme that will shape so much policy is the tension over two, at times, competing priorities: cracking down on China and giving emerging technologies leeway to flourish.
“It’s going to be a difficult dance,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told us. He cited his own efforts to restrict outbound U.S. investment in China as an example.
A compromise on outbound investment fell short of making it into end-of-year bills in the last Congress. Republican foreign policy leaders wanted to restrict a wide array of tech investments, while GOP lawmakers sympathetic to industry concerns wanted a more targeted approach.
“You have people sort of in both camps,” Cornyn said. “We all pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and this is where our loyalty lies, and I would hope that that remains paramount.”
How Republican-controlled Washington navigates the warnings of China hawks and the desires of tech enthusiasts will be key to what does and doesn’t get done in Trump’s Washington on tech policy.
Let’s take a look.
Foreign Commerce: Tech’s role in trade and export controls promises to be a flashpoint.
In the waning days of President Joe Biden’s term, his administration issued a rule to expand export controls on the most advanced semiconductors. Some Republican China hawks loved it, but others, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), were outraged at the scope of the policy.
Cruz, who is debating trying to use Congress’ power to rescind last-minute regulations, epitomizes the split. He’s long favored tough-on-China stances, but he’s also the new chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. In other words, he’s got a lot of business interests under his jurisdiction.
Other GOP lawmakers have suggested their affinity for both sides of the debate. It’s a reminder there aren’t necessarily fixed groups, with hawks on one side and an opposing camp that wants an easier playing field for business.
Rather, Republicans move between the two poles. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a key member of the Senate’s artificial intelligence working group, said he was torn on the Biden administration’s AI chips rule.
Here’s what Rounds told us:
Or take TikTok. The app is currently operating in legal limbo thanks to Trump’s own sometimes-contradicting stances on how to best confront China versus attending to the worries of the business community. Under a law passed last year by wide bipartisan margins, TikTok was supposed to face a ban from U.S. app stores on Jan. 19 since it’s still owned by a Chinese company.
Trump, who loves how popular he is on the app, hinted he’d save it by invoking a reprieve that’s available under the divestment law. Many Republican China hawks objected to this idea.
Instead, Trump issued an executive order that provides 75 days for him to examine a way to save the app while promising his Justice Department will not go after companies that don’t comply with the law. It’s unclear if this approach will hold up against legal challenges.
The sweet spot: The House, in particular, has sometimes managed to bring the camps together.
Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) pointed out the original TikTok law was popular among all kinds of Republicans. Latta said it showed how Republicans — and GOP-led committees in particular — worked together on national security and economic concerns.
“I think that we’ll have good relations with our committees here,” said Latta, who helped get the TikTok bill through the Energy and Commerce Committee. “We all have the same goal in mind. So I really believe that it won’t be really a problem.”
Latta also previewed that Republicans will have to tackle some of these issues to address network security this year.
“We know what happened with Huawei and ZTE,” he said, referring to Chinese companies that made cheap telecom gear that is now ubiquitous in U.S. networks and are subject to replacement efforts. “We don’t want to have technology out there that comes from Communist China, which is truly an adversary.”
