Although the “State of the Union” focused on the Ukraine war, Biden did not forget to emphasize competition with China

Although the “State of the Union” focused on the Ukraine war, Biden did not forget to emphasize competition with China. U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address to the joint session of Congress on Tuesday (March 1), although much of it focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and solidarity between the United States and its allies In the international situation where the most severe sanctions in history were imposed on Russia, it did not forget to emphasize the far-reaching competition between the United States and China and urged the US Congress to pass a competition bill with China as the main target as soon as possible.

Although the “State of the Union” focused on the Ukraine war, Biden did not forget to emphasize competition with China

“I told (Chinese President) Xi Jinping that it’s never a good idea to bet on the American people,” Biden said.

Biden spoke of the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the U.S. Congress last November, which would significantly increase U.S. spending on infrastructure, thereby “transforming America and allowing us to compete with the rest of the world, especially China, in the Victory on the Road to Economic Competition in the 21st Century”.

Biden said that the United States has announced as many as 4,000 infrastructure projects. He reiterated to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations and to renovate 65,000 miles of highways and 1,500 bridges in disrepair during the year.

Biden praised the increase in U.S. jobs while calling on the government to buy more American-made products.

“But to compete for the best jobs of the future, we also need to level the playing field with China and other competitors,” Biden said, pointing to the thick stack of “competitive U.S. competition” with China as its main rival that has yet to be passed by Congress. Act” said. The plan will invest tens of billions of dollars in semiconductor production alone.

Biden then talked about Intel’s plans to invest $20 billion in a chip factory in Ohio. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger was in the congressional guest seat when Biden spoke. Biden said Gelsinger had told him that Intel was ready to increase its investment from $20 billion to $100 billion.

“This will be one of the largest investments in American manufacturing history,” Biden said. “So, we can’t wait any longer. Get the bill to my desk, and I’ll sign it. Then we’ll really take off.” The

Wall Street Journal believes that Congress is not likely to pass the bill quickly, but it should The odds are high that the bill will pass and become law this year.

Biden called for 2% of the U.S. gross domestic product to be used for technology research and development, emphasizing that the U.S. cannot do it now, but China is doing it.

The main idea of ​​the Competition with China Act is that both the House and the Senate have bipartisan support, but when the House version of the Act passed the House vote in February, the votes for and against were largely divided by party.

While separate versions of the House and Senate support increased federal funding for scientific research, especially new technologies, the $350 billion US Competition Act in the House reflects bipartisan differences on key issues. In particular, some of the trade policy changes listed to protect American workers.

Separate versions of the Senate and House of Representatives also disagree on how to fund tech priorities. The Senate’s $250 billion “American Innovation and Competition Act” emphasizes specific technologies that support artificial intelligence, while the House of Representatives wants to let U.S. government technology officials decide which technologies or areas should receive support.

The Wall Street Journal quoted congressional aides as saying that the House version also emphasized global economic challenges rather than threats from China.