"#6 It's Time for Avalanche Decoupling" by CWP alum Eyck Freymann
Beijing’s recent expansion of export controls across the entire rare earth supply chain has exposed a fundamental problem in U.S.-China trade negotiations: Washington lacks a credible framework for graduated economic disengagement.
Last week, President Trump threatened 100% additional tariffs if China goes does not withdraw the measures by November 1. But China held firm, markets took fright, and the administration is already backpedaling. It feels like Liberation Day all over again. This emerging pattern of trade scare —> market panic —> hasty truce is shredding U.S. credibility. In a number of essential products, the United States is so dependent on China that decoupling all at once isn’t an option. But what’s the alternative—leaving things as they are?
Eyck Freymann works on strategies to preserve peace and protect U.S. interests and values in an era of systemic competition with China. He is the author of several books, including The Arsenal of Democracy: Technology, Industry, and Deterrence in an Age of Hard Choices and One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World.
Dr. Freymann is a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University and a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the U.S. Naval War College, China Maritime Studies Institute.
He advises policymakers in the United States and allied countries.
He comments frequently in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Economist, War on the Rocks, The Wire China, and The Atlantic, among other venues, as well as on television and radio. His commentary focuses on national security issues of bipartisan concern.
He also advises businesses and asset managers at Greenmantle, a consultancy, where he directs coverage of Indo-Pacific and technology issues.
Before Hoover, Dr. Freymann held fellowships at Harvard and Columbia. He holds four degrees in history and China Studies from Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard.
Photo Credit: https://www.eyckfreymann.com/
