2025 Issue 49

In a disturbing shift, President Trump announced on social media that he would permit the sale of previously restricted advanced AI chips to the PRC.  As this change in policy was taking place, the research firm Strategy Risks released a report that showed how AI research in the West helped the Chinese Communist Party refine its techniques for abusing human rights, techniques that will only accelerate with access to more advanced chips from Nvidia.

The Wall Street Journal published a report on how the PRC could potentially attack and invade Taiwan and Jonathan Hillman in the New York Times describes how it required a FOIA request to find out that his federal government retirement plan was investing in PRC and Russia firms that are undermining U.S. interests.

Ambassador Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative took part in a public Q&A session at the Atlantic Council to discuss U.S. trade policy and the U.S.-China relationship.  In a related development, Mexico announced that it would impose 50% tariffs on Chinese goods in order to help protect a North American market from PRC overcapacity.