(Hotair)—The court battles over tariffs got all the attention this week but that wasn’t the only sign the Trump administration is still engaged in a trade war with China. On Wednesday the administration suspended the sale of jet engines and some high tech chips and software as well. The target of these new restrictions seems to be China’s first passenger jet, the C919.
The Trump administration has suspended some sales to China of critical U.S. technologies, including those related to jet engines, semiconductors and certain chemicals and machinery. The move is a response to China’s recent restrictions on exports of critical minerals to the United States, a decision by Beijing that has threatened to cripple U.S. company supply chains, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The new limits are pushing the world’s largest economies a step closer toward supply chain warfare, as Washington and Beijing try to flex their power over essential economic components in an attempt to gain the upper hand in an intensifying trade conflict…
One person familiar with the matter, who declined to be named to discuss private conversations, said the Commerce Department had suspended some licenses that allowed American companies to sell products and technology to COMAC, a Chinese state-owned aerospace manufacturer, for use in its C919 aircraft.
In a companion piece we learn that the C919 is essentially a US/European built airliner which was built in partnership in China starting back when we still had hopes China might become an ally rather than an enemy.
In 2008, China established the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or COMAC, with the goal of putting a single-aisle commercial jet into service by 2016.
Development of the plane has been slow. The company, which occupies a large expanse of newly built hangars and design studios in Shanghai, suffered delays despite extensive assistance from American and European companies. Its plane, the C919, did not go into commercial service until 2023.
Still, Beijing takes great pride in the C919. State media describes it as one of the country’s “pillars of a great power” with “technology to help civil aviation development and achieve military-civilian integration.”…
Some in Washington now contend that COMAC’s joint ventures facilitate the theft of industrial secrets and undermine American national security. “Almost the entire makeup of the C919 is stolen technology from numerous aviation and technology industries from around the world,” said William R. Evanina, a former director of the United States National Counterintelligence and Security Center, in congressional testimony in 2023.
It’s not exactly correct to say all of the tech was stolen. Some of it was just bought from US companies that were happy to sell for the right price.
- Read More: hotair.com
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