House Republicans zero in on Big Tech’s relationships with China
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the top Republican on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, told GOP members of the panel in a memo Wednesday about a new third pillar of their “Big Tech Accountability Platform” focused on China.
- The expansion of the platform signals how seriously Republicans are taking issues surrounding the major tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
- The new focus includes a call to review how American data could flow to China and ways to combat counterfeit goods from the country.
House Republicans are zeroing in on the relationship between Big Tech companies and China, expanding their initial platform focused on tech accountability.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the top Republican on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, informed GOP members of the panel in a memo Wednesday of the new third pillar of their “Big Tech Accountability Platform.”
The expansion of the platform signals how seriously Republicans are taking issues surrounding the major tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The focus on China could also yield bipartisan support given that Democrats have similarly expressed concerns about American data getting into the wrong hands. The Senate recently passed a $250 billion bill with bipartisan support that aims at strengthening U.S. technology to counter competition from China, showing that message can be a rallying cry for both sides.
‘A common market for tech’: US and EU begin preparations for high-tech divorce from China
BRUSSELS — U.S. and European Union officials are planning for a high-tech divorce from China, with the launch of a council that could enable the transatlantic alliance to establish a “common market” unstained by Beijing’s espionage and human rights abuses.
“In general, the idea would be to open and to become as a common market for the tech, to come closer and closer,” a senior Baltic official familiar with the conception of the Trade and Technology Council told the Washington Examiner.
That proposal is emblematic of the divergence between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, who evinced deep skepticism of the integrated trade policies that characterize the European Union. Yet the prospect of a transatlantic set of regulations and standards for cutting-edge technologies has bipartisan support in the United States, where some conservatives see it as a way to prevent Chinese technology companies such as Huawei, widely perceived as an asset for Chinese spy agencies, from dominating high-end technological innovation.
“The Euros (and many Americans) are worried about the economic impacts of losing market access to China, and that colors how much they are willing to push back on China issues more broadly,” a Senate Republican aide said. “Helping to create economic opportunities elsewhere is an important point and will, hopefully, free everyone from kowtowing to Beijing.”