Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T15:57:27.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

US economic statecraft and great power competition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2022

James Lee Open the ORCID record for James Lee [Opens in a new window]  and
Richard Maher
James Lee*
Affiliation:
Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica; 128, Section 2, Academia Road, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan; UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
Richard Maher
Affiliation:
Independent scholar, Daphne, AL, USA
*
*Corresponding author: James Lee, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article develops a conceptual framework for explaining variation in the United States’ economic statecraft in the Cold War and the present day, focusing on how US officials perceived the type of geoeconomic capability that its rivals possessed and the type of national security challenge that they posed. This framework specifies four ideal-type strategies on the part of the United States: economic containment, national economic competition, technological containment, and national technological competition. Analyses of U.S. strategy toward the Soviet Union, China, and Japan support the theory. These ideal types explain why, in the rivalry with Japan in the 1980s, the United States openly engaged in competition but did not adopt containment, relying on Voluntary Export Restraints, currency devaluation agreements, and bilateral semiconductor agreements rather than placing Japan on something historically analogous to the Commerce Department's contemporary Entity List or targeting Japan with comprehensive export controls through an institution like CoCom. These ideal types (and the theory behind them) also explain why the United States has implemented containment measures against specific Chinese companies but has not pursued a systematic “decoupling” of the US and Chinese economies.

Keywords

geoeconomicsUS–China relationsgreat power competitionCold Wareconomic statecraft
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 24 , Special Issue 4: U.S.-China Trade War , December 2022 , pp. 332 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of V.K. Aggarwal

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aggarwal, Vinod K., and Reddie, Andrew. 2021. “Economic Statecraft in the 21st Century: Implications for the Future of the Global Trade Regime.” World Trade Review 20 (2): 137–51. https://doi.org/10.1017/S147474562000049XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alderman, Daniel, and Ray, Jonathan. 2018. “Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technologies, and China-US Strategic Competition.” In The Gathering Pacific Storm: Emerging US–China Strategic Competition in Defense Technological and Industrial Development, edited by Cheung, Tai Ming and Mahnken, Thomas. Amherst: Cambria Press.Google Scholar
(b)(3)(c). 1990. “The Toshiba Case.” Studies in Intelligence 34: 37–40. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000621387.pdfGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, David. 2020 (1985). Economic Statecraft. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. eBook edition.Google Scholar
Bartlett, Jason, and Ophel, Megan. 2021. “Sanctions by the Numbers: US Secondary Sanctions.” Center for a New American Security. https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/sanctions-by-the-numbers-u-s-secondary-sanctionsGoogle Scholar
Blackwill, Robert, and Harris, Jennifer. 2017. Geoeconomics: War by Other Means. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Brands, Hal, and Gaddis, John Lewis. 2021. “A New Cold War.” Foreign Affairs. 100 (6): 10–20. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-10-19/new-cold-warGoogle Scholar
Bunker, Ellsworth. 1992. “Paper Prepared in the Embassy in India [12 May 1959, Document 228].” In Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Vol. 15, edited by Madeline Chi, John P. Glennon, William K. Klingaman, and Robert J. McMahon. Washington, DC: Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v15/d228Google Scholar
Carr, Edward Hallett. 2001 (1939). The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919–1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations. New York: Perennial.Google Scholar
Central Intelligence Agency and Department of State. 1992. “Report to the Council on Foreign Economic Policy [6 March 1958, Document 6].” In Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Vol. 4, edited by Suzanne E. Coffman, Edward C. Keefer, and Harriet Dashiel Schwarz. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v04/d6Google Scholar
Cheung, Tai Ming. 2022. Innovate to Dominate: The Rise of the Chinese Techno-Security State. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Christensen, Thomas. 2021. “There Will Not Be a New Cold War: The Limits of US–Chinese Competition.” Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-03-24/there-will-not-be-new-cold-warGoogle Scholar
Cornes, Richard, and Sandler, Todd. 1996. The Theory of Externalities, Public Goods, and Club Goods, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cumings, Bruce. 1984. “The Origins and Development of the Northeast Asian Political Economy: Industrial Sectors, Product Cycles, and Political Consequences.” International Organization 38 (1): 1–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cupitt, Richard T., and Grillot, Suzette R.. 1997. “COCOM Is DEAD, Long Live COCOM: Persistence and Change in Multilateral Security Institutions.” British Journal of Political Science 27 (3): 361–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Christina L., and Wilf, Meredith. 2017. “Joining the Club: Accession to the GATT/WTO.” The Journal of Politics 79 (3): 964–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deese, David. 2008. World Trade Politics: Power, Principles, and Leadership. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dollar, David. 2020. “Seven Years into China's Belt and Road.” Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/10/01/seven-years-into-chinas-belt-and-road/Google Scholar
Doshi, Rush. 2021. “The Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Order.” Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-long-game-chinas-grand-strategy-to-displace-american-order/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dulles, John Foster. 1986. “Address by the Secretary of State, San Francisco, June 28, 1957, 10:30 a.m. [28 June 1957, Document 268].” In Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Vol. 3, edited by Schwar, Harriet D. and Smith, Louis J.. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v03/d268Google Scholar
Farrell, Henry, and Newman, Abraham. 2019. “Weaponized Globalization: Huawei and the Emerging Battle over 5 G Networks.” Global Asia 14 (3): 8–12.Google Scholar
Forsberg, Aaron. 2000. America and the Japanese Miracle: The Cold War Context of Japan's Postwar Economic Revival, 1950–1960. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Frieden, Jeffrey A. 2006. Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Gilpin, Robert. 1987. The Political Economy of International Relations. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleason, S. Everett. 1992. “Memorandum of Discussion at the 388th Meeting of the National Security Council [3 December 1958, Document 230].” In Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Vol. 4, edited by Coffman, Suzanne E., Keefer, Edward C., and Schwarz, Harriet Dashiel. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v04/d230Google Scholar
Gowa, Joanne. 1994. Allies, Adversaries, and International Trade. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hass, Ryan, and Denmark, Abraham. 2020. “More Pain Than Gain: How the US–China Trade War Hurt America.” Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/08/07/more-pain-than-gain-how-the-us-china-trade-war-hurt-america/Google Scholar
Huang, Yukon. 2021. “The US–China Trade War Has Become a Cold War.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/09/16/u.s.-china-trade-war-has-become-cold-war-pub-85352Google Scholar
Inkster, Nigel. 2020. The Great Decoupling: China, America and the Struggle for Technological Supremacy. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Irwin, Douglas. 1996. “The US–Japan Semiconductor Trade Conflict.” In The Political Economy of Trade Protection, edited by Krueger, Anne O.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, James K. 2006. “The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).” Congressional Research Service. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA462334.pdfGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Bryan. 1991. “The US–Japan Semiconductor Agreement: Keeping Up the Managed Trade Agenda.” Heritage Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/asia/report/the-us-japan-semiconductor-agreement-keeping-the-managedtrade-agendaGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Keith, and Groll, Elias. 2019. “The Improbable Rise of Huawei.” Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/03/the-improbable-rise-of-huawei-5g-global-network-china/Google Scholar
Jones, Lee, and Hameiri, Shahar. 2020. “Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-Trap Diplomacy’: How Recipient Countries Shape China's Belt and Road Initiative.” Chatham House. https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-08-25-debunking-myth-debt-trap-diplomacy-jones-hameiri.pdfGoogle Scholar
Kitchen, Klon, 2021. “Quantum Computing: A National Security Primer.” American Enterprise Institute. https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/quantum-computing-a-national-security-primer/Google Scholar
Krauthammer, Charles. 1990. “The Unipolar Moment.” Foreign Affairs. 70 (1): 23–33. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1990-01-01/unipolar-momentCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, Deborah Welch. 2021. “The Return of Containment.” Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/15/containment-russia-china-kennan-today/Google Scholar
Lay, James S. Jr. 1994. “National Security Council Report [11 June 1960, Document 175].” In Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Vol. 18, edited by Chi, Madeline and Smith, Louis J.. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v18/d175Google Scholar
Lee, James. 2018. The Wages of Containment: Foreign Aid, American Grand Strategy, and the Origins of the Developmental State. PhD diss., Princeton University.Google Scholar
Leffler, Melvyn. 1992. A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, Ian. 2020. “The Future of Telecoms in the UK.” National Cyber Security Centre. https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/the-future-of-telecoms-in-the-ukGoogle Scholar
Mahnken, Thomas ed. 2012. Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century: Theory, History, and Practice. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Maizland, Lindsay, and Chatzky, Andrew. 2020. “Huawei: China's Controversial Tech Giant.” Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/huawei-chinas-controversial-tech-giant?gclid=CjwKCAiA55mPBhBOEiwANmzoQtUkujt18e1Ce3PEhhAA2Qo3TJ-01TjRq08twf4s1oKqibuvzo8JdhoCV2YQAvD_BwEGoogle Scholar
Mason, T. David. 1991. “Introduction: The Strategic Context of US–Japan Trade Friction.” In US–Japan Trade Friction: Its Impact on Security Cooperation in the Pacific Bason, edited by David Mason, T. and Turay, Abdul M.. New York: St. Martin's Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mastanduno, Michael. 1992. Economic Containment: CoCom and the Politics of East-West Trade. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Naughton, Barry. 2018. The Chinese Economy: Adaptation and Growth. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Norris, William. 2018. Chinese Economic Statecraft: Commercial Actors, Grand Strategy, and State Control. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Norrlöf, Carla. 2022. “The New Economic Containment: Russian Sanctions Signal Commitment to International Order.” Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-03-18/new-economic-containmentGoogle Scholar
Packard, George R. 1987/88. “The Coming US–Japan Crisis.” Foreign Affairs 66: 348–67. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/1987-12-01/coming-us-japan-crisisCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pak, Jung H. 2020. “Trying to Loosen the Linchpin: China's Approach to South Korea.” Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FP_20200606_china_south_korea_pak_v2.pdfGoogle Scholar
Pempel, T. J. 1999. “The Developmental Regime in a Changing World Economy.” In The Developmental State, edited by Woo-Cumings, Meredith. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Pollard, Robert. 1985. Economic Security and the Origins of the Cold War, 1945–1950. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pompeo, Michael. 2020. “The Clean Network.” US Department of State. https://2017-2021.state.gov/the-clean-network/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Pongratz, Stefan. 2019, “Key Takeaways—Worldwide Telecom Equipment Market 2018.” Dell'Oro Group. https://www.delloro.com/telecom-equipment-market-2018-2/Google Scholar
Reagan, Ronald. 1986. “Memorandum on the Japan-United States Semiconductor Trade Agreement.” Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/memorandum-japan-united-states-semiconductor-trade-agreementCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reilly, James. 2013. “China's Economic Statecraft: Turning Wealth into Power.” Lowy Institute. https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/175042/reilly_chinas_economic_statecraft_web.pdfGoogle Scholar
Rostow, Walt. 1985. Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Foreign Aid. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Sanger, David E. 2018. The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age. London: Scribe Publications.Google Scholar
Schaller, Michael. 1997. Altered States: The United States and Japan since the Occupation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schelling, Thomas. 1966. Arms and Influence. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Segal, Adam. 2021. “Huawei, 5G, and Weaponized Interdependence.” In The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence, edited by W, Daniel. Drezner, Henry Farrell, and Abraham L. Newman. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Sherman, Justin. 2021. “The US Is Continuing Its Campaign against Huawei.” Lawfare. https://www.lawfareblog.com/us-continuing-its-campaign-against-huaweiGoogle Scholar
Spence, Jonathan. 1990. The Search for Modern China. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Subcommittee on International Trade. 1991. “Renewal of the United States-Japan Semiconductor Agreement.” Committee on Finance, United States Senate (102 Congress, First Session). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/hrg102-155.pdfGoogle Scholar
Sutter, Karen M. 2021. “US–China Trade Relations.” Congressional Research Service. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11284Google Scholar
Taniguchi, Rie, and Babb, Sarah. 2009. “The Global Construction of Development Models: The US, Japan, and the East Asian Miracle.” Socio-Economic Review 7: 277–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Jay. 2011. The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
The Wassenaar Arrangement. 2021. “About Us.” The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies. https://www.wassenaar.org/about-us/Google Scholar
US Department of State. 2020. “5 G Security: Incredible Promise, Significant Risk.” https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/5G-Promise-Risk-508.pdfGoogle Scholar
Van Ham, Peter. 1992. Western Doctrines on East-West Trade: Theory, History, and Policy. Houndmills, Basingstroke, Hampshire: Macmillan Academic and Professional Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veigle, Anne. 2020. “FCC Designates Huawei and ZTE as National Security Threats.” FCC News. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-365255A1.pdfGoogle Scholar
Westad, Odd Arne. 2019. “The Sources of Chinese Conduct.” Foreign Affairs 98(5): 86–95. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-08-12/sources-chinese-conductGoogle Scholar
Wong, Audrye. 2021. “Peddling or Persuading: China's Economic Statecraft in Australia.” Journal of East Asian Studies 21 (2): 283–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wray, Christopher. 2022. “China's Quest for Economic, Political Dominance Threatens America's Security.” FBI News. https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/director-wray-addresses-threats-posed-to-the-us-by-china-020122Google Scholar