US President Joe Biden holds a microchip during a speech in Washington, February 24, 2021 (AFP/Archives/SAUL LOEB)
New episode of the Washington-Beijing war: the House of Representatives adopted a bill on Friday to locate on American territory the manufacture of electronic chips, essential for the production of smartphones and cars.
Chance of the calendar, the text was voted on – by 222 votes against 210 – only a few hours after the launch of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, supposed to be a new expression of Chinese influence and which the United States has decided to boycott diplomatically.
The “America COMPETES act” provides 52 billion dollars to revitalize the American semiconductor industry, today mainly manufactured in Asia, and essential for the manufacture of cars, smartphones and medical equipment.
With the pandemic, manufacturers have seen these reserves of chips melt to an alarming level.
The Biden administration assures that this shortage has a direct effect on galloping inflation in the United States which is undermining American households… and causing the Democratic leader’s popularity rating to plummet.
The American president applauded Friday’s “crucial” vote, which he said will allow the United States to “leapfrog China and the rest of the world in the 21st century”.
– “Economic imperative” –
The dome of the US Congress in Washington on October 14, 2021 (AFP/MANDEL NGAN)
The House of Representatives bill also provides $45 billion to strengthen the US supply chain.
A similar text had already been adopted in the Senate in June, voted on by elected officials from both parties. But a parliamentary shuttle will be necessary to harmonize the two projects, prefiguring long negotiations on Capitol Hill.
The text of the House responds “to the economic and national security imperative to support American industry and workers”, said its president Nancy Pelosi on Friday. It allows the United States “not to be at the mercy of other countries”, she pleaded during a press conference.
This February 4, 2022 illustration shows various Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean-made computing devices in Washington, DC. (AFP/Daniel SLIM)
But almost unanimously, House Republicans opposed the bill, saying it does too little to hold Beijing to account for its human rights abuses and provides too much investment against climate change.
China, at economic war with the United States since the Trump era, is however one of the rare subjects on which the Democratic president is in line with his Republican predecessor.
Beijing meanwhile accuses Washington of exaggerating a so-called Chinese threat.
– “Made in America” -
Trucks line up at the Port of Los Angeles, victim of supply chain troubles, on November 11, 2021 (AFP/Archives/Robyn Beck)
The American president had also underlined at the end of January the enormous economic potential of these chips by taking the example of cars, of which 4% of the components are currently semiconductors. In 2030, these will represent 20% of automobile manufacturing.
He had urged manufacturers to bring production back to the United States, calling for a “made in America” future (“made in America”).
The chip giant Intel immediately announced the construction from the end of the year of two semiconductor factories in Ohio, a former bastion of steel production.
Joe Biden also urged Congress to get in working order and adopt a final text approved by both chambers without delay. “America cannot afford to wait,” he said.
His administration half-hopes to be able to brandish these investments during the president’s major general policy speech, scheduled for March 1.
“There’s no reason for this to drag on for months,” said US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
© 2022 AFP
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