“The imperative of limiting dependencies takes a new place in commercial strategies”

Tribune. It was with amazement that Europeans realized how much they depended on supplies from China for products as essential in the face of the pandemic as masks or certain drugs. But they are not the only ones to be concerned about their external dependence: the Chinese observe with concern their persistent difficulty in dispensing with imports for certain advanced technologies, while the United States is alarmed at the flaws of their industry in the face of Chinese competition.

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The imperative of limiting dependencies thus takes a new place in commercial strategies. On the American side, beyond Trump’s tariff war, the extension of export controls and the ban of Chinese equipment manufacturers from 5G telecommunications networks are the most emblematic of an intention to reduce dependence on China, if necessary. by cutting certain direct economic links: it is a “decoupling” that should be done, an idea that is gaining ground and that the Biden administration does not seem to deny.

China is also contributing to it: the “China 2025” plan already set, in 2015, explicit self-sufficiency targets for key technologies, pursuing an already long-standing policy of “indigenization” of technologies and value chains: in December 2020, the country has adopted an export control law that could herald measures similar to those taken by the United States. “Dual circulation”, now the keystone of Chinese strategy, explicitly aims to protect the internal sphere of the economy from external pressures; external circulation refers to the ambition to project its economic power around the world.

Profound change

Europe certainly reaffirms its desire to“Active engagement” with its partners. But his policy of“Open strategic autonomy” also includes the screening of foreign direct investments, the strengthening of internal industrial capacities, the control of exports of sensitive technologies; so many tools that aim to “Protect the essential values ​​and interests of the European Union [UE], according to the Commission.

Decoupling has already gained ground in key areas, such as the Internet (applications and data) and new telecommunications networks. In others, it is ongoing. Many American and European companies are looking to diversify their supplies and limit their exposure to international tensions, while China is working, among other things, to develop a functional ecosystem to produce its own semiconductors.

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